


Sebastian

by Tess_DiCorsi



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-16 17:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 54,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/864636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tess_DiCorsi/pseuds/Tess_DiCorsi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An old collar from the LAPD and an angry colleague from the FBI are back and looking for Marty Deeks. Multi-chapter story.  Established Deeks/Kensi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Phone Call

**Disclaimer** : Recognizable characters are not mine. Just playing with them and promise not to break them. There are a few original characters, they're mine. I'm also trying not to break them.  
 **Story notes** : An old collar from the LAPD and an angry colleague from the FBI are back and looking for Marty Deeks. Multi-chapter story.

 

 **1**. "As a teenager, you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you." - Fran Lebowitz

 

He answered his cellphone on the second ring. "Yeah, this is Deeks." He stifled a combined yawn and groan.

"Sorry to call you so early, kid, but you need to come in." To his credit, Roger Bates actually sounded sorry. "We have a situation."

Deeks looked at his watch. It wasn't even five in the morning and not quite five in the morning on a Sunday. "What did I do now?" Deeks asked as he rolled out of bed and moved to his bathroom, leaving Kensi to her dreams. Things had been quiet since he was cleared to return; Bates even seemed pleased with his work in their weekly debriefings. Obviously, that was over.

"How fast can you get here?"

"That bad, huh?" Monty walked into the bathroom, looked at Deeks and left. LAPD wanted to see him immediately, Monty seemingly not as much.

"Conference room on twelve. We'll be waiting. And Deeks, this is LAPD business. Don't call that woman you answer to at NCIS."

Which one, Deeks wondered. If Bates was not going to give a name to "that woman you answer to at NCIS," he could at least offer a description based on height. "That woman" could be two very different women. And the "we'll be waiting" comment just confirmed this wasn't going to be a happy meeting. "I'm on my way."

Leaving the bathroom, Deeks saw Monty sitting by the front door. He needed a shower, Monty needed a walk and LAPD needed to see him immediately, all before five on a Sunday morning. Awesome.

He grabbed some clean clothes from the bedroom and returned to the bathroom for a shower. Fifteen minutes later, he was walking back into his apartment with semi-wet hair and a relieved Monty.

"You took Monty for a walk this early?" A sleepy Kensi walked out of the bedroom wearing nothing but the bed sheet she wrapped around herself. Tim Gunn would be proud, she made it work. As Kensi watched Monty return to his dog bed, she looked at Deeks and stifled a yawn. "Monty's back in bed, now you."

Deeks shook his head no. "Love to but I got called in."

Kensi was instantly awake. "They didn't call me."

Deeks walked to his desk. "Bates called. LAPD business. They're really not allowed to call you."

"Oh, OK. What's up?"

"Bates wouldn't tell me on the phone." Deeks took his laptop and stuffed it in his messenger bag. He walked past her to get his gun and badge out of the bedroom. "I'm guessing nothing good."

Kensi looked worried when he walked back to the living room. "What can I do?"

"You can go back to sleep. I'll call you once I know what's going on. Maybe we'll go to breakfast when I'm done."

"I don't like this."

"You don't like breakfast? Please, you love breakfast."

"Deeks," Kensi warned.

"Hey, I don't like this either and I sure as hell don't like this at five in the morning," Deeks smiled, pulling her into a hug. "Five in the morning is for surfing or," he kissed her. "That's awesome any time - night or day."

Kensi smiled. "Be careful."

Deeks reluctantly turned away. "Monty, keep Kensi company until I come back. Earn your keep, boy." Deeks pointed to Monty and then the bedroom. The dog looked at Deeks, stood, turned in a perfect circle in his dog bed and returned to a resting position. "Monty, there's a beautiful woman over there. Opportunities like this don't come along every day." Monty remained in his bed. Shaking his head in disappointment Deeks sighed, "You don't know what you're missing, Monty. I'll call you later, Kensi. I'm sure everything's fine."

As Deeks walked down the stairs from his apartment, he saw a silver Honda Ridgeline sitting right outside his building. When Deeks got to the bottom step, the driver's side door opened and Ruben Ramos climbed out.

"How much trouble am I in if they've gotten you out of retirement and off the fishing boat to give me a ride?" Deeks smiled and shook his head at his former handler.

"Usually, I don't even get up until seven or so on a Sunday unless the fish are really biting. You should feel honored," Ramos told Deeks as he pulled the younger man into a hug. "Bates called me and I told him I'd pick you up."

"Bates called you? What's going on?"

"Bates didn't tell you what this was about?"

"No, just told me to come in." Deeks walked to the passenger side, sneaking a look to his apartment window. It didn't look like Kensi was watching. He didn't want her to worry that he was leaving without his car. As he got into the truck, Deeks asked Ruben what was going on.

"I'll leave the details to Bates but he's on your side. So am I." Ruben pulled out of the driveway and started to Bates's downtown office.

"So this is completely LAPD business. Bates went out of his way to mention not bringing NCIS into this."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Ruben teased. "I wonder why?"

"Hetty makes him nervous."

Ruben chuckled. "Hetty makes everyone nervous. How do you work for that woman?"

"I work with Hetty. I work for the LAPD."

"Sorry, Counselor. How do you work with her?"

"Working with Hetty is fine."

"No, fine is that partner of yours. How is the fair and lovely Kelsey?"

"Kensi, Ruben, her name is Kensi." Deeks shook his head. He had this same conversation with Ruben about Kensi every time they spoke. Ruben met Kensi at Jess Traynor's memorial service and was so smitten that he never could properly recall her name. "And Kensi is doing well. I'll mention you said hello if I'm ever allowed out of LAPD custody."

"You're not in custody."

"Bates calls me in, calls you off the bench and you're offering to come from the Valley to the beach to get me to go downtown. If I'm not in custody, I'm at least being managed."

"I use to manage you all the time, mi hijo. I also watched out for you and occasionally took care of you. Maybe I'm doing the same," Ruben reminded Deeks.

Deeks turned to his old handler and saw the grim look on the otherwise happy man's face. "This is officially bad, isn't it?"

"That's up to you."

Deeks found little comfort in that.

Just after 5:45AM on a Sunday, downtown traffic - vehicular and pedestrian - was limited. As Ruben parked his truck across the street from the police station, Deeks was stunned to see a familiar face walking from around the corner. "Hetty?"

"Det. Deeks, Sgt. Ramos, while it is always a pleasure to see you both, this time in the morning on a Sunday seems a bit obscene," she remarked as the two men crossed the street.

Deeks remembered Bates's order about NCIS involvement. "Hetty, how did you know about this meeting? I mean besides you being Hetty," Deeks tried to joke.

Ruben held the building door opened for Hetty. "I called. I figured you could use an extra friend in this meeting. I didn't know…"

"So you're as much in the dark about this as I am, Mr. Deeks?"

"I'm thinking whatever it is it isn't good Hetty." Ruben and Deeks flashed their badges to the officer on duty. He just waved them up. Even the desk sergeant knew they were coming.

"Sunday morning meetings before breakfast rarely are."

"I am sorry, Hetty."

"Whatever for?" she asked.

"Do you really want to be here on a Sunday morning?"

"Do you, Mr. Deeks?"

"No, but you don't work for the LAPD." Deeks held the elevator door for Hetty and Ruben.

"We've had this conversation before, Detective."

"What conversation?" Ruben asked as the elevator doors closed.

Deeks started scrambling for an answer - discussing a long-standing job offer at his current place of employment probably wouldn't end well - but Hetty saved him. "I'm concerned about Mr. Deeks's future."

Hetty's ability to tell the truth she wanted told always amazed Deeks. "I'm more concerned about the next few minutes," Deeks mumbled as the elevator opened to the twelfth floor.

Roger Bates was leaning on the wall outside the conference room. "I didn't know you were coming Ms. Lange," Bates said shaking her hand and shooting a look at Deeks.

"I called her," Ruben said. Patting Deeks on the back he continued, "I figured Deeks here could use all the moral support he could get."

"I'd just love to know what's going on." Deeks just shook his head.

"Ruben, why don't you take Ms. Lange into the conference room, I need to talk to Deeks for a second."

And my day just gets better and better, Deeks thought as he watched Hetty and Ruben enter the room. There were no screams of horror or painful moans, nobody ran out of the room in pain - all plusses Deeks guessed. "What's with all the cloak and dagger stuff? It isn't even six in the morning. You send Ruben to bring me in. What did I do now?"

"For the record, Ruben volunteered. And also for the record, you've done nothing wrong. What you're probably going to do is what matters. Whatever happens here is up to you and the LAPD has your back on this. One-hundred percent your choice, kid, with one-hundred percent support of the Department. I'm not going to put you back on this case if you want out."

Deeks had a bad feeling as Bates walked with him into the conference room, a feeling that was confirmed by Andrea Miller sitting on the far end of the conference room table. "Marty!" Andrea Miller stood and walked across the room, "So good to see you."

As she started to extend her hand to Deeks, he took a step back and put his hands up. "Oh no, you don't get to do that. Not you, especially you."

"Marty, don't be that way. I'm willing to let bygones be bygones."

"That's very magnanimous of you since you weren't the one lied to, had your abilities called into question or wound up in the hospital."

"I did have my professionalism questioned, if I remember correctly," Miller's sunny attitude was slipping.

"Not without reason," Bates muttered.

Deeks turned to Hetty, "I'm sorry you had to be brought into this, Miss Lange." With "Miss Lange," Deeks earned a small reaction from Hetty. "I'm sure Lt. Bates was under orders to keep the FBI's interest in me quiet."

Bates smirked. "And specifically to keep Ms. Lange out of things, isn't that right Ms. Miller?

"Marty, sit down. We need to talk," Miller avoided Bates's question.

"I don't take orders from FBI Agents who nearly got me killed and then tried to save their career by making it look like it was my fault."

"Deeks is telling the truth," Bates told the room.

"About everything. Being lied to, being belittled, being hospitalized," Ruben nearly spit out every word. "Longest car ride of my life."

Miller tried to reframe her position, "I think..."

"I don't care what you think. I'm out of here."

"Detective!" Miller's tone was now demanding, "I'm not finished with you."

"But I'm finished with you. Lt. Bates, Sgt. Ramos and Miss Lange, I'm going to leave now before I say something to Agent Miller I really and truly mean." Deeks pointed at Miller, "Stay away from me. I don't think I can make myself clearer than that. I'll be happy to talk to anyone in OPR or LAPD IA about not wanting to be in the same room with you." Deeks turned around and walked out of the conference room.

As he walked down the hall, Deeks heard Roger Bates clap his hands together and say, "That actually went better than I expected." Deeks smiled a little, ducking into the break room and pulling out his cellphone. He looked at it but decided a random landline was probably a better idea. Andrea Miller was nothing if not thorough.

Leaving the break room, Deeks could hear Miller yelling about his professionalism and decorum, which was funny since his last encounter with her was a hearing before the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility in Washington D.C. about her behavior. Well, second to last, there was that scene in the airport where he walked into the men's room just to get away from her while she yelled at him. She followed. Miller being dragged out of the main men's room in United Terminal at Reagan by the TSA lacked a certain degree of professionalism and the guys at the urinals complained about her lack of decorum.

Deeks took the stairs down to the seventh floor and found the Legal Bureau, his first home at the LAPD. Plopping down at his old paralegal's desk - Chris, now a lawyer himself, was long gone from the LAPD and an Andrew Woods sat here according to the nameplate - Deeks picked up Woods's phone and called Kensi.

"What happened?" It was obvious Kensi did not go back to sleep.

"Nothing good. I need you to do a favor for me."

"Anything."

"You know the safe I showed you with my personal stuff in case anything happened to me?"

"Deeks, what happened?" Kensi sounded worried.

"I need you to bring the red expanding file with the name 'Boothe' on it to the Mission. It's on the bottom shelf. Can you do that for me? Like now."

"Of course. Deeks, tell me what's wrong."

"Old case, bad case, FBI was involved and they want me involved again."

"How bad?"

"The FBI used LAPD and I got stuck in the middle. The set up this morning I'm sure was to catch me off guard. I need that file. I need to have as much backup on this as possible."

"You've got me."

Deeks smiled. Maybe for the first time since he left his apartment, Deeks felt some sense of control. Kensi's words were music to his ears. "And that's all I'll ever need. I got a lift here so I need to get to the office on my own."

"I can pick you up."

"No!" Deeks looked around to make sure he didn't tip off his location. "I need to keep you and everyone else out of this. I have a feeling I'll be on the FBI's radar for a while."

"I'll be at work in less than half-an-hour."

"Be careful. Check for a tail," Deeks told her. He hung up and then tried Eric's cell, hoping the analyst would be up early to surf. "Where are you?"

"Good morning to you too, Deeks. Hetty called me around five this morning and ordered me in. I'm just walking into Ops."

"I'm sorry in advance about all this. I'm the reason Hetty had to call." Great, so far he's had his weekend ruined, he's ruined Kensi's, Hetty's and now Eric's. Callen, Sam and Nell were probably next. Awesome.

"Not a problem. What do you need?"

"I need to know if anyone's pulled my personnel records from either the LAPD or NCIS in the last few weeks."

"I'd be alerted if they did."

"The person doing the pulling would be from the FBI, maybe a higher up in the Justice Department or a Congressional aide. They may have a security clearance or a warrant that would stop any alert."

"Why would they be looking at you?" Eric must have realized how bad that sounded, "What I mean is..."

"What you mean is why would someone with that much pull or national security clearance want to look at a lowly local law enforcement type?" Deeks joked. "Eric, I'm not offended, I just need to know if anyone's looked around at my file lately."

"Nothing recently as a normal request, I can check around."

"Please." Deeks had an idea, "Eric, would they get my home address on a routine check?"

"Not from us but maybe from LAPD."

"Can you change my address on all my files back to where I lived when I joined the LAPD?"

Deeks heard Eric typing in the background. "The apartment on Wynne?"

"Yep." His old garage apartment on Wynne was long gone. Picturing Andrea Miller driving around Reseda looking for a building that didn't exist was one of the morning's early highlights. "I'll be in the office in a little while. Kensi's coming in too."

"OK. I'm starting the document trace and I'll temporarily increase the required security clearance for everything you've done since April 2010," Eric told him. "I'm also taking your LAPD files and duplicating them on our servers. I'll hollow out the files LAPD has and restore them when you give me the head's up."

"Good idea," Deeks told him. "I informed Hetty about a case, a Lt. Corey Moran who was found murdered on October 5, 2007. Can you pull that file?"

"Hetty had me send her the file a week or two ago so no problem. Should I call Callen and Sam?"

"Not right now. We'll figure this out when I get there," Deeks told Eric. "Sorry I screwed up your Sunday."

"Had no real plans. Don't worry about it."

Oh, Deeks thought, I'm worried enough for both of us. As he left the office building, Deeks saw two men wearing suits sitting in a dark blue, late-model Crown Victoria on the corner. Barely after sunrise, two guys in suits in a Crown Vic were waiting for him. Wow, Andrea Miller was in full psycho mode. In for a penny, in for a pound he thought walking over to the vehicle.

Flashing his badge, Deeks got no response from the Crown Vic's passengers. "OK, we can do this the hard way," Deeks said, pulling out his weapon. He ejected the magazine, grabbed the barrel and aimed the grip for the driver's side window.

That got the driver to roll down the window.

"I'm gonna guess you boys are FBI." The FBI folder on the console between the two agents and the driver's license photo of him blown up to a five by seven shot pretty much confirmed it.

"What can I do for you Officer Deeks?"

"Well, I'm at a disadvantage. You know my name, though obviously not my job title, but I don't know your names." Deeks gave them ample time to respond but he was greeted with silence. "OK, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, I'll make this simple. I told your boss to leave me alone, I'm telling you to leave me alone."

"I don't take orders from you, Officer."

"No, and normally I'd be sympathetic about who you are taking orders from but since you won't tell me who you are, I feel my safety is compromised." Deeks pulled out his phone. He hit the speed dial. "This is Detective Deeks, badge number 4417 reporting a suspicious vehicle on Pico outside the station. Late model Crown Vic, dark blue, California plate - seven, victor, victor, tom, zero, zero nine. Can you send a patrol car by?" Deeks said thanks and hung up. After the driver gave him a dirty look, Deeks shrugged his shoulders, shoved the magazine back into his weapon and shot out the driver's side front tire.

"Jesus!" yelled the man in the front passenger seat, "Why'd you do that, asshole?"

"Asshole isn't my job title either but you two make it tempting. I'm going now but don't worry boys, you won't be alone for long. I can hear the sirens, so company's coming. There is a garage about a block that way." Deeks pointed behind the Crown Vic. "They'll probably be in around nine-ish. I'll bet they'll even walk the new tire down the street and change it right here if you slip 'em a twenty. Enjoy your Sunday."

"You son of a bitch."

Deeks walked away, waving goodbye. "Language gentlemen, it's Sunday. Families may be passing by, going to church. Show a little respect."

Checking regularly to make sure nobody was following him, Deeks jogged over to the Ritz Carlton Hotel where he found a taxi. Ruben's offer for a ride to the station guaranteed his attendance but made leaving a real pain in the ass. Maybe that was the point.

Once in the cab, he took his cell phone battery out and tossed it out the window. He figured he really wasn't paranoid since Andrea Miller was out to get him and Sebastian Boothe would be joining the hunt soon.

 

"For the third time, good morning again Mr. Deeks!"

Sitting alone on a weight bench in the gym with an empty cup of coffee, Deeks lifted his head to see Hetty standing in front of him with a file folder from LAPD. "Sorry Hetty," he said quietly.

"Not Miss Lange?" Hetty smiled at him. "Thank you for remembering that I prefer Miss."

Deeks smiled back. "I liked that you preferred Miss. Let me know early you were an independent thinker, comfortable with what you believed and who you are."

"Funny, I had the same feeling after meeting you at that rather interesting bar. The FBI wanted me to tell you that you owe them a tire."

"Filthy mouths on those two." Deeks shook his head in mock disgust. Turning serious, he told her, "I wasn't going to allow them near this place or what's going on here."

"Thank you for that. I saw what remains of your phone on your desk. I'm assuming that was also to keep the FBI away."

Deeks nodded. "Sorry again."

"No need to apologize, Mr. Deeks. You missed quite a show after you left. It seems Lt. Bates and Sgt. Ramos are not fans of Assistant Director Miller."

"Assistant Director?" Deeks was stunned.

"Sgt. Ramos seemed quite surprised by that as well."

Deeks shook his head. "And there are people at the LAPD who think I got moved up too fast."

"You're going to have to give me a full briefing on the case." Hetty handed Deeks the file. "Lt. Bates called this a piece of fiction. Sgt. Ramos called it bullshit."

"Ruben was swearing with ladies in the room?"

"It was in Spanish, muttered under his breath with a nodded apology to me but yes."

Deeks opened the file folder and saw the rather thin case notes. There was no mention of then Assistant Special Agent in Charge Andrea Miller, all mentions of Corey Moran were scrubbed too. His then lack of undercover experience was considered an underlying reason for his unlisted injury. "Ruben wasn't wrong. This is bull."

"In your monthly update to me of your LAPD responsibilities, you mentioned Sebastian Boothe's parole date and the unsolved murder of Lt. Moran."

"That was my first interaction with NCIS. Until then, I thought you guys were all cops on carriers."

"Special Agents Afloat." Hetty nodded her head. "After I read your monthly report, I asked Eric to pull the file on Lt. Moran's murder. Your name wasn't mentioned, nor was your alias at the time. I cannot believe Assistant Director Miller could have both LAPD and NCIS files changed."

"Andrea Miller's mother is Congresswoman Teresa Miller from Maryland."

"A member of the Judiciary Committee."

"Yes. Her dad is …"

"Frank Miller of Miller and Anderson, the lobbying firm." Hetty looked at Deeks. "I know my way around the corridors of power in Washington, Detective."

"I was flown to Washington for an OPR hearing against Miller. After the hearing, I got pulled aside by one of the investigators who suggested I keep hard copies of all my records and store them some place safe. He told me Andrea Miller didn't forgive and wouldn't forget."

"How bad is this Mr. Deeks?"

"The funny thing is there is a possible serial killer getting out of jail and we're game planning against the FBI Agent who is supposed to bring him in."

"You believe Sebastian Boothe is a killer."

"Believe, yes. Can't prove it."

"Deeks!" Kensi called from outside the gym.

"Kensi, I'm in the gym with Hetty." Deeks ran his hand through his hair. "I'll make copies of my notes and give them to you, Eric and Kensi. Maybe we can figure out something together."

"Hey," Kensi said as she almost sprinted into the gym. "I found the file in your apartment." She held it up as she stood next to Hetty.

"Storing it someplace safe is in your apartment, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty was troubled.

Kensi handed him the file and he opened it. "I had two copies of the file made when I got back from the OPR hearing in Washington. One became that," Deeks pointed to the file in Hetty's hand. Pulling out the documents from his file, "These are xerox copies of the other file. One of my law school buddies works for Apple in their patents division. He has the original file in the safe in his office along with the designs of whatever new toys all the kids are all going to want next Christmas. I took Agent Colton's warning seriously." Deeks also pulled a CD out of the file folder. "Bates has a copy of this."

"Why don't you make copies of your copies and we'll convene in Ops in five minutes. I think I could use some tea and need to make a call." Hetty handed Deeks the current LAPD file on Sebastian Boothe and left Kensi with Deeks.

Kensi smiled at him. "You're hiding LAPD files in Cupertino with new iPads? Who is making trouble for you and how do we ruin him?"

Deeks put the disc back into his file folder before standing up. "Look at you, such a sexist. The person making immediate trouble for me is FBI Assistant Director Miller. Andrea Miller." Deeks leaned in and whispered in her ear, "And you two probably won't be friends."

Kensi walked out with him. "I got your back," she told him.

"That was never in doubt, Kensi. I just don't want this to screw things up."

Now it was Kensi's turn to whisper, "Can't screw us up." Kensi stepped in front of him just as they got to the bullpen. "We're partners, we're a team."

"We'll talk about this later, I need to make copies." Deeks handed his laptop and the CD to Kensi, "Would you mind bringing this up to Eric, I'm going to need it for show and tell in Ops."

"And now look at you, giving orders. 'Kensi, bring me a file.' 'Kensi, bring this up to Eric.' You're gonna owe me Deeks." Kensi's smile while she was teasing him lightened his mood. "Big time. And I still want breakfast."

"Of course you do." He watched her walk off and started to load the copy machine.

"You haven't shared any information about this case with Ms. Blye?" Hetty just seemed to suddenly appear as he started the copier.

"Not some of my finest moments with the LAPD. Besides, nobody here is interested in my history there. Back then, you guys were fighting terrorists, I was doing buys and busts. I'll be up in a minute." Deeks pointed to the copier as it worked.

"Mr. Deeks, your time working undercover with the LAPD is of great interest to me, your partner and this agency. Your work was far more than buys and busts as you call them. And we'll need a complete history of your work on this case so we can find Lt. Moran's killer and properly manage Assistant Director Miller." Hetty turned and started to walk away but stopped. "Oh Mr. Deeks, is the Special Agent Afloat position an issue for you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said your first thoughts of NCIS were of 'cops on carriers.' Are you concerned that if you joined us as a full-time agent you could be assigned as a Special Agent Afloat?"

Deeks looked at Hetty and remembered why Bates didn't like to have her around. She seemed to know too much about everyone. "It isn't the only reason but I've heard a few Special Agent Afloat stories from some of the NCIS agents who work here. I wonder about a year-long assignment on a ship. I was a bit antsy on the Van Buren after three days. I can't see myself spending a year with all that ocean and no ability to surf," Deeks tried to joke.

"If you were to sign the papers I gave you, you'd continue to be trained and engage in what you're doing now, undercover work. It would not be a proper use of your skills as an investigator and an undercover operator to have you breaking up card games on the USS Carl Vinson." Hetty started to walk to the stairs. "Please join us when you're ready."

Deeks wondered if she meant up in Ops or as an agent for NCIS as she walked away.

Copies made, Deeks walked up to Ops. "Sorry to keep you waiting," Deeks handed the copies of the now long gone LAPD file and his case notes to Hetty, Kensi and Eric. Eric was at his desk, Hetty standing nearby. Kensi was leaning on the work counter, screen side. His laptop was open on the counter.

"Mr. Beale, please takes Mr. Deeks's files and notes, digitize them and store them with this file name." Hetty handed Eric a slip of paper. She turned to Deeks, "Detective, a folder in your apartment, even if it is only a copy, is not the best place for these files."

"I can call Stu and get the original file." Deeks popped the CD in his laptop's drive and sat on a stool.

"Have it overnighted to the Navy Yard in DC. They can send it in the daily pouch to me. Proceed."

It's showtime, Deeks thought.

-30-

 

 **Author's notes** :

1\. I am assuming everyone survives the finale (except the Russians, they need to go) a bit dinged up but alive and kicking. This story starts a few months later.  
2\. Same deal as last summer's longer story - one chapter a week, usually posted on Sunday.  
3\. I will make every effort to have this done before the season premiere.  
4\. I hate author's notes so I won't make this a habit.


	2. History

**2**. "The past actually happened but history is only what someone wrote down." - A. Whitney Brown

 

"In 2006, LAPD confiscated some commercial real estate in a drug bust," Deeks began. "Most was auctioned off but the Department held to on a couple of properties they thought had possibilities. One place was a bar-restaurant in Venice called Ruby's which in other incarnations was Beach Beer Bar, Seashore Inn and my favorite, Long Island Ice Tea. Lt. Bates wanted to run a year-long operation out of it just to see what would happen. Since I was coming off nearly five months with a burglary crew and looked like a Venice guy, I got the assignment of being the bar's new owner."

"What did you know about running a bar?" Kensi asked.

"Bates's sister-in-law was in the restaurant business. She was able to walk me through what I needed to know to look like I knew how to run a bar-restaurant. After installing a ton of surveillance equipment in and around the place and wiring up the living space above the bar that was going to be my undercover apartment, Boogie's opened on February 12th." Deeks hit enter on his laptop and photos of Boogie's popped up on the big screen

"Boogie's?" Eric perked up. "You ran Boogie's?" Eric stared at Deeks, his hand coming to his mouth. "Oh my God, you're Marty."

"Who else would he be, Mr. Beale?" Hetty wondered.

"Edward Michael Martin, please, call me Marty. Everyone does," Deeks answered Hetty with practiced ease. "The bar was far enough away from places I hung out as a kid that LAPD wasn't too worried about someone remembering me but it was just easier to be 'Marty' for this set-up. A year is a long time and I was still fairly green."

"Marty had the best life. Surfed all morning, hung out at Boogie's lunch until closing. Free liquor, free food, big table in the back, best looking waitresses around always flirting with him. He was a rock star," Eric almost sighed in admiration.

Deeks burst Eric's bubble. "OK, the food wasn't free since it came out of the budget. No drinking on duty, just ginger ale, and I was always on duty. I was usually working the books, ordering food and running the business at the big table in the back and the best looking waitresses were usually complaining about the customers, not flirting."

Hetty was growing bored, paging through Deeks's notes. "Gentlemen, can we continue?"

"Sorry. The first few months of the undercover assignment were really successful. Two morons who thought they were the next Tony Soprano tried to shake down the place for extra payments for trash removal. They were quickly set up and arrested. Two real shake down guys were involved with the linen service. We got someone inside their business, wound up not only closing down the kickback business but there was a pretty good human trafficking trade in the laundries that was stopped. Jess Traynor ran that operation." Deeks shook his head, as if to clear it. "There was a building inspector looking for a bribe, a couple of narcotics operations. It worked."

"Mr. Deeks," Hetty looked up from the case notes, "Boogie's was clearing five thousand a month in profit, is that correct?"

Deeks nodded. "I figured to keep the operation going the place couldn't bleed money. Now, I wasn't getting paid by the bar so that added to the bottom-line but I found other revenue streams that could help with investigations. The guys who ran it as Long Island Ice Tea were from Brooklyn. They put a window on the side of the building like you see in New York pizzerias. They didn't stay opened long enough to have the pizza oven delivered and installed but the window was there. I paid a wanna be actress who lived about three blocks away to pick up some pastries at a local bakery, make some coffee and open the window at 6AM and sell the coffee and pastries until she ran out or had auditions. That gave the place a morning presence. I worked for a caterer in college and law school so we started catering beach weddings and parties, which opened up other investigations. Bates's sister-in-law knew a chef who needed extra money after a divorce so he did lunch at a big time restaurant downtown and dinner for Boogie's. Frank had a chef friend coming out of rehab and wanted to work days so he could go to meetings at night. A week before Memorial Day, Boogie's started opening for lunch. That's important."

Kensi looked at Deeks, "Why was that important?"

"Sometime around 4th of July, a guy started coming in for a late lunch. After two o'clock, usually twice during the week, sometimes but not always one day over the weekend but never on a fixed day."

"Boothe?" Hetty asked.

"Sebastian Boothe. I didn't pay much attention to him in the beginning except he ate alone, tipped well and was one of the few men there after two o'clock. After two, Boogie's got a bunch of moms walking around with kids in strollers coming in for coffee and cheesecake. Usually not a lot of guys in that group - maybe a male nanny or a father with the kids for the day but Boothe started showing up a couple of times a week." Deeks hit enter again on his laptop and a photo of Sebastian Boothe hit the big screen. He was about six foot, slight build - maybe 165 pounds - light brown hair, green eyes, clean-shaven.

"Kind of an average guy," Eric commented.

"Seemed to be except for his money. Sebastian Boothe was 30 in 2007," Deeks explained. "He was the only child of Davis and Regina Boothe. Davis Boothe had a mid-five figure inheritance after he graduated college in the early 1970's and looked to get a start in the financial industry. Fifteen years later, he was the founder and CEO of Boothe Financial. At the time of his death, Davis Boothe was worth about $90 million."

"What do you know about Davis Boothe's death?" Hetty asked.

"Sebastian told me in passing his father drowned in the family swimming pool when Sebastian was fifteen, so 1992ish. After it all went to hell, I found the police report about the drowning. Nobody saw anything, a housekeeper found him around 7AM dead. He swam regularly before going to the office. No signs of foul play. Regina Boothe died of natural causes about six months before I met her son."

"How did you officially meet Mr. Boothe?"

"One afternoon, the waitress covering Boothe's table got a phone call that her mom was in a car accident. She went to the hospital and I covered her three customers since I was the only other person there not working in the kitchen. The two women sharing a piece of cheesecake didn't need much but refills of their coffee. I joked with Boothe that I knew his order. He laughed when I told him he'd have what he always had, a small bowl of tomato soup, a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, a sugar cookie with chocolate sprinkles and a bottle of Pellegrino water."

"You can do that from memory?" Eric asked.

"He never changed his lunch order. Carrie, the day waitress, had a running bet with Julio in the kitchen that Boothe would never change his order. He bought her a smoothie every Friday if Boothe had the same meal during the week. It was memorable. Boothe wasn't, well that's not true. He stuck out with his dress. Most of the male customers were locals or surfers."

"So dressed like Mr. Beale."

Deeks smiled at Eric. "Exactly Hetty. The dress code we had was no wetsuits, no wet clothing and the usual no shoes, no shirts, no service." Deeks pointed at the photo of Boothe on the screen. "That's probably a two hundred dollar Ralph Lauren custom sport shirt, three hundred dollar tailor-made pants, six hundred dollar Gucci loafers. That all made Boothe hard to miss."

"So the two of you started to talk."

"Yeah, he'd joke about the women in the restaurant. He called the young moms 'the hens' and I was the 'cock of the walk.'" Deeks shrugged. "I said 'Cock of the Walk' sounded like a good name for a chicken restaurant. Just small talk in the beginning. Then it got weird."

"What changed?" Kensi asked.

"On Monday, July 23rd, really early Tuesday the 24th, the cleaning crew was one man short so I dragged the trash out to the dumpsters out back. I saw a car with someone ducking down behind the wheel parked just off the bar property. It was a bright yellow MG-Midget, early 1970's, so the partial plate number I got made it easy to trace."

"Boothe." Kensi and Eric said simultaneously.

"Yep. I reviewed some of the security video and the car was hanging around for weeks. Again, different nights - a lot of nights when he didn't stop off for lunch. The car would show up at different times but a few hours a week, just sitting out of normal eyeshot."

"That's not a good car for surveillance." Eric pulled up a photo of Boothe's car from the LAPD file.

"Or stalking," Kensi added. "Why didn't you notice it earlier?"

"Wasn't really worried about what was going on off the property. Around the same time there were three underage girls roofied and raped at two different bars in the area. I was watching what was going on inside the bar every night." Deeks sighed. "And honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed just running the place. Running a bar is a full-time job, I was doing that alone with an expanding restaurant business and there were one or two investigations going at any time."

"If they kept you on the case, Detective, you were doing a good job," Hetty reassured.

Deeks knew where the story was going and wasn't so sure. "Thanks. Anyway, Tuesdays were shopping days for me for the bar. I had a van and I'd pick up flowers, non-tradition booze or food we'd need, whatever couldn't be delivered. Ruben Ramos was working as my handler and he'd be at the flower shop, which was another LAPD undercover front. Walking to the florist on the 24th, I was arrested and dragged downtown."

"Your interest in Mr. Boothe caught someone's attention," Hetty deduced.

"Pulling Boothe's license plate at 2:40AM set off alarms. The FBI wanted to meet with me. Well, not the FBI, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Andrea Miller." Deeks hit enter again and a five-year old photo of Agent Miller appeared. "She was the golden girl of the Violent Crimes Unit and wanted to know why a lowly undercover cop who washed out of the Legal Bureau was interfering with her investigation of Sebastian Boothe."

"Nice." Kensi comment.

"That didn't sit well with either Ruben or Bates. Since Miller was hell-bent on not sharing any intel and just getting it on the record that I was interfering with her case, I decided to leave. Much like you saw this morning, Hetty, I was told I didn't have her permission to leave. Bates told me to go and if anyone asked about the arrest, tell them that the FBI wanted me brought in because someone at the bar was the subject of a federal investigation."

"I do like that man," Hetty added.

"Miller relented. She said that among other crimes," Deeks threw air quotes around the phrase, "Boothe was a suspect in some financial nonsense including insider trading. I had to get back to the bar so they made plans and I made the dinner rush. Boothe shows up for the first time ever at dinner and said he heard I got arrested that day."

"He was following you." Kensi's concern was growing.

"I didn't see him following me but I would have been looking for a yellow Midget as a tail car. Wound up he owned six cars including a silver Toyota Prius which was about every third car in Venice that summer."

"What did you tell him?"

"That there was an assault on the beach Monday morning, which there was, and I fit the basic description a homeless man gave, which I did - blonde surfer dude. He stayed for dinner, said he liked the dinner crowd and would be back again and off he went. Until I took out the trash that night and there was the yellow Midget.

"Ruben came by the next day dressed as a plumber. We went to the basement for some bogus repairs and he handed me instructions along with info on all of Boothe's cars and his home. LAPD wanted me to stay friendly with Boothe, see if he'd open up."

"Did you think he was stalking you at the time, Detective?"

"I don't know what I thought, Hetty, except it was weird and he was an odd guy."

"Odd?" Kensi asked.

"Rituals. The same lunch every time he came in. Same dinner when he started showing up later in the day - heirloom tomato salad, grilled striped bass with green beans and new potatoes, another sugar cookie and a bottle of Pellegrino water. Paid the same way every time - a fifty dollar bill for lunch, a hundred dollar bill for dinner - brand new bills. Never wanted change so the over-tipping had the staff fighting over him. According to the FBI, he didn't own a cell phone. Didn't own a computer. Had a phone in all his cars, never used them. Rarely used the land-line in his home. All his bills for his home and cars were paid through an accountant who had written instructions but only met with Boothe face to face once a quarter."

Eric shook his head. "No electronic or social footprint."

"Exactly. For the longest time, I had the feeling when I said hello as I passed him at lunch that Carrie and I were the only persons he spoke to regularly who didn't work for him. LAPD wanted me to be a bit more aggressive with Boothe. Miller wasn't providing any intel and was trying to pressure LAPD higher ups to close the bar."

"Obviously, didn't work," Kensi said."

"It didn't work because Bates liked the results from the other bar investigations and because Miller was so aggressive and obnoxious that people enjoyed doing the exact opposite of her wishes." Deeks put another photo up on the big screen - this time a beach wedding in Malibu. "We're catering the Smith-Daniels wedding on the beach one Friday night in late August and I decide to up the ante. I saw him not far from the wedding party in a Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible."

"He showed up at the wedding? And in another vehicle that stands out?"

"Yeah, funny thing was I wasn't supposed to be there. Derek, the usual bartender for the catering gigs, got some bad sushi Wednesday night and wound up in the hospital Thursday with dehydration. I didn't know I was covering for him until Friday afternoon when he showed up to work and was still green around the gills. I had Derek babysit Boogie's and I worked the wedding."

"What did you do?" Kensi asked.

"Heather, one of the catering waitress, could tend bar in a pinch. They were bringing out the wedding cake so I put her behind the bar, took an ice pick and decided to visit with my buddy Boothe."

"Was that wise?" Hetty asked.

"Probably not. He was parked facing the wedding from the right. I made it look like I was picking some wine out of the back of the catering van and ran to the side of the parking lot. As I got closer, I see he's taking pictures. He had an old film camera with a big telephoto lens and was taking photos of the wedding from the driver's seat of his car. I crouched along the side of the car and jumped in the front passenger seat."

"That was not wise."

"No, but if you're going to confront a guy taking covert pictures, surprise and putting an ice pick into his ear gives the ice pick holder a real advantage."

"What did he do?"

"I explained that if he moved I'd see if I could push the ice pick in far enough to see if the tip would come out of his other ear. He sat perfectly still. I pulled the film out of the camera and took the two rolls he had sitting in the cup holder. Told Boothe to pop the trunk. He did. I then told him if I ever saw him following the girls working as waitresses again, he'd wish I used the ice pick. I took the camera, dropped it into the car truck - wouldn't want a theft charge after all - kept the film and walked away. Boothe hit the road in a hurry."

Kensi looked at Hetty, then Deeks, "Crude but effective."

"I thought so. Miller was furious. She didn't think I could sell being enough of a bad ass. I think us daring to have our own plan was more of the problem." Deeks hit a key and photos of him working the Smith-Daniels wedding popped up.

"Did those photos worry you, Mr. Deeks?"

"Again, it was odd. I had no reason to think he was violent or anything more than a weird rich guy who maybe did some inside trading."

"When did you next see Boothe?" Kensi asked.

"The following Monday. A messenger delivered a handwritten letter from Boothe just before lunch."

"A handwritten letter?" Eric was amazed.

"A handwritten letter. Remember, no computer, no smart phone, no nothing. It was on this really expensive stationery, inviting me to lunch at his house that day. He wanted to apologize in person for his inappropriate behavior - his words - and felt the least he could do was offer me lunch."

"Please don't tell me you went alone." Kensi said.

"No, called Ruben and told him I was going. I had a couple of guns in my apartment. Took the .32 snub nose, tucked it in my boot. Ruben showed up in his plumbers gear again and wired me for sound. Then I went to Boothe's home." Deeks hit the enter key on his computer and Boothe's home appeared.

"Wow." Eric said. The Malibu mansion could have been the home used in the "Iron Man" movies.

"Yeah, it was on the beach, Sea Lane Drive. Very white inside and out, lots of glass. Modern furniture, very little of it. Intentionally spartan and spare according to the person who put the place together for Boothe after his mother's death. He thought the views were all you needed."

"What happened when you got there?"

"Boothe brought me in, introduced me to his housekeeper and invited me to sit with him on the dining deck near the pool where his old man drowned. And that view was remarkable. Once outside, there was this nice lunch spread. Boothe offered me lunch and wanted to apologize for what happened. I didn't accept either."

"Why?"

"Because Marty the bar owner would be suspicious of a guy trailing his waitresses. Marty worked hard to keep the bar a decent place to work and there's no way he was putting up with someone creeping after the waitresses. So I asked him, if he wasn't creeping after the girls, was he a cop? He laughed, unbuttoned his shirt and said no, he wasn't a cop and wasn't wearing a wire. The funny thing, of course, is that I'm a cop and I was wearing a wire."

Kensi said, "But you successfully kept him on the defensive."

"That was the plan. He ate his lunch - tomato soup, a grilled chicken Caesar salad - what he would have had at the bar. He told me about himself, how he tended to his dying mother for two years and how he was just beginning to deal with people again. He saw how comfortable I was with people, how comfortable the waitresses were with customers and just wanted to relearn some social skills. Marty the bar owner was not mean about Boothe's admission, more indifferent."

"How did Boothe react?" Eric asked.

"He was really interested in getting back in Marty's good graces. He told me he had a secret. We walked along the deck to a doorway off what looked to be a guest bedroom. He pulled out a key, opened the door and invited me in. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw about six plasma screen TVs, probably a dozen laptops all stacked one on top of another. There were about six pieces of mismatched carry-on luggage."

"Did he open the luggage for you?" Hetty asked.

"No, but I knew from my burglary crew days they were probably full of jewelry and things like silver picture frames, Hummels, expensive knick-knacks. He had this smile, full of pride and said to me, 'Now you know my secret.'"

"Creepy," Kensi said.

"Weird. He said he started stealing things when he was in high school. A handheld video game here, walkman there, jewelry when he could get it, cellphones once his fellow students had them. In college, Stanford University, he took little things like girls earrings, wallets. Never sold a thing, never did anything but collect them. He opened a dresser drawer and it was just full of wallets. Cheap velcro ones, Fendi wallets, ones with chains on them. Another drawer had cellphones, a third had walkmans, iPods and Gameboys. He just stole things."

"Definitely creepy."

"What was weird was how excited he was to tell someone. The police shrink thought he was doing this for half his life and never told a soul. Marty the bar owner was the first guy who knew Boothe stole things."

"What happened next?"

"Marty the barkeep told Boothe that he was freaked out about having the waitresses followed."

"Smart move Detective, didn't make it about you."

"Exactly. I told him that if he was interested in one of the waitresses, ask them out but stop following them. I also told him one of the waitresses had an order of protection out on an old boyfriend - and she did, we had a photo of him behind the bar and were ready to deal with him if we had to. I told Boothe I was worried he was like Diane's creepy ex."

"Did he stop following you?"

"No. I purposely took out the trash that night and there he was. Showed up the following day for lunch like nothing happened and for a while, we were back to friendly barkeep and loyal customer. More cautious but mostly normal. The Thursday before Labor Day, Andrea Miller, who was complaining in her weekly meeting with Bates and Ruben about the case, walks in and sits next to me while I'm sitting at my back table trying to price out a bachelor party we were asked to host in our back room."

"This doesn't sound good," Eric noted.

"It wasn't. She starts playing with my hair and coming on to me."

Kensi's eyes narrowed. "What was she up to?"

"Nothing good. I rather forcefully and publicly told her to get away from the table and out of the bar. When she didn't stop, for the whole bar to hear, I told her that I didn't really think I had a type but I knew what I didn't like - forward women with big hair, bad blue contact and hooker red nail polish. She stormed out; I got a round of applause from the dinner crowd."

"Was Boothe there?" Kensi was not happy.

"Since the floor show was for his benefit, oh yeah. After he paid for his meal he asked Donna, his waitress, if he could stop by my table."

"Didn't just walk up?"

"I was given a wide berth by everyone to that point that night. Marty the bar owner was exactly what I called him, your friendly barkeep. He was never bad to people, rarely yelled, wasn't one to cause a scene, did everything to keep those things out of the bar. In a five minute span, I did all that. Anyway, Donna asked and I waved Boothe over. He sat down and just started laughing. Never saw him laugh like that. I started to laugh too. There was some small talk. Boothe mentioned having a business proposition about a catering gig at Boothe Financial he wanted to discuss after Labor Day and I agreed. Miller's very public display of affection and my reaction seemed to work."

"Was any other patron that forward with you, Mr. Deeks?"

"A few women made offers but running that place and running the stings LAPD was setting up was overwhelming at times. I was on the job just about three years, nearly two of them driving a desk in Legal. Looking back, Miller wasn't all that wrong. While I wasn't in over my head, I was treading water."

"Did Lt. Bates have any reaction to this?" Hetty asked.

"He thought she was up to something and was going to look into it. He never got back to me. At the end of September, we had this crazy Saturday night. USC was playing Washington on the big TV over the bar, bachelor party in the back room and just some rowdy people in the place. Around eight, a man gets into it with his girl, calls her a name. Some guy at the bar knows the girl, sees she's upset and tries to help her. One thing leads to another, a table gets turned over and suddenly we have the biggest brawl ever in the bar. I'm pulling people off each other, throwing them out of the bar. In the middle of this, I see Boothe, eating dinner just hypnotized by what's going on."

A suspicious Kensi asked, "Did the FBI set this up?"

"Not this time. Maybe it was a full moon but everyone was just nuts that night. I finally get things semi-calm when the cops show up. A couple of guys are bleeding; I'm bleeding. The girl who was in the middle of all this wanted to press charges so the LAPD shut us down. Everyone has to leave but Boothe and the people with dinner on the table were allowed to finish up while LAPD took statements. They all start drifting out. I'm giving my statement to the cops as friendly barkeep Marty when I realize my cellphone is gone."

"Boothe took it." Kensi just knew.

"Yep. Didn't dawn on me at the time. I was working at the end of the bar because we needed my usual table. After the fight, my shirt was ripped and the shirt pocket was actually torn off. I figured it was either lost or stolen in the melee. It wasn't an LAPD problem. That phone was just for bar business. The real plumber, the laundry service, my liquor guy were in there."

"How did you learn Boothe took it?" Kensi asked.

"He called the bar's phone early Sunday morning as I was surveying the damage. He apologized that he wasn't much help in the fight. He said he saw my phone hit the ground and he grabbed it for safe keeping."

"You weren't sure?" Hetty asked.

"He could have kept it. He showed me a drawer full of cellphones but he was willing to return it. I was suspicious but honestly, I needed that phone. I asked if it was alright if I picked it up and Boothe said sure. That's when it all sort of fell apart." Deeks hit a key and a photo of a US Naval Academy midshipman appeared. "Eric, I think this is your part."

"Corbert Anderson Moran III, Annapolis graduate, dual major in systems engineering and cyber security. Was all about drone projects and weapons design. He was splitting his time between running a number of weapon projects out of China Lake and testings them out in Coronado."

Eric put up Moran's military record and continued. "Received nothing but excellent performance reviews through his first four years. Designed several impressive drones. Modified two designs of a weaponized drone and a spy drone when they both failed. And they were expensive failures. Lt. Moran's modifications fixed design flaws in both drones and they worked. That put him in conflict with Lt. Commander Andrew Emerson who designed the original drones. Emerson was in line for a graduate degree spot in Annapolis that would have been worth millions once he graduated and finished his commitment to the Navy. Moran got the nod instead."

"I'm guessing that didn't sit well with Emerson." Hetty surmised.

"No. After Moran's death, NCIS Agent Yates who investigated Emerson thought the Commander was capable of a lot but not killing Moran. He was never really a suspect."

"How does that involve Boothe?" Kensi asked.

"After Moran got the slot at the Academy, his commanding officer got some pictures. The commanding officer had to ask, Moran had to tell."

"He was gay," Kensi said.

"Yes. He had a boyfriend teaching computer design at Cal Tech, Dr. Michael Mills." Eric put a photo of Mills on the big screen. "Going back and forth between China Lake and Coronado freed him up to have a life that the Navy didn't know about."

"But Commander Emerson did," Hetty said.

"Yes. Not a month after he got the offer to go back to Annapolis, he was brought in and asked to leave quietly when his commitment was done. Otherwise, he was released from all responsibilities to the Navy."

Hetty sighed. "Unfortunate outcome of an unfortunate policy."

"I can take it from here, Eric," Deeks interrupted. "Moran wound up working for a special effects company designing computerized explosions and other cool stuff for movies. He also was a military adviser for movies and television shows. He landed on his feet financially but Dr. Mills said he changed when he was dismissed. Moran loved the Navy and since his father and his mother's father were both career Navy, the dismissal devastated him. He was estranged from his family. He and Dr. Mills were on a break when I saw Moran."

"Was he at the bar the night of the fight?" Kensi asked.

"No, Moran was at Boothe's place. Boothe left me in his living room when he went to get my phone. Not sure if Moran knew where he was but I saw him tied to a chair by the pool."

"Tied? How?"

"Rope. It looked like the kind of rope people use to anchor boats. Boothe had both a 64-foot yacht that was his old man's and from what the marina said was never used and a classic 1996 38-foot Cigarette boat, which he did use. Very "Miami Vice"-ish. He'd have access to that sort of rope." Deeks took a deep breath. "Moran was tied rather elaborately to the one of the lounge chairs on the deck by the pool. There was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket and some what looked like some recreational pharmaceuticals on a side table."

"Do you think he was there willingly?" Hetty wondered. "Lt. Moran?"

"Moran at that point had no ability to consent to where he was or what he was doing. Boothe, who by the way was wearing silk pajamas that Hef would envy, reappeared with my phone and then excused himself, he had company. I thanked him for saving my phone and got the hell out of there."

"Why?"

"Lt. Moran didn't look like his Annapolis graduate photo anymore." Deeks put up a picture of Moran as a civilian on the big screen. Taken at a beach volleyball game, Moran was shirtless, with a large tattoo covering most of his chest. He was about six foot, long blond hair, blue eyes and tan.

"Oh my God," Eric said. "That picture isn't in his records. That photo..."

Deeks put up his LAPD issued Edward Michael Martin driver's license photo, finishing Eric's thoughts. "We looked alike. And I'll be honest, it freaked me out."

"No beard back then, Mr Deeks?" Hetty asked.

Deeks saw Kensi's eyes were as wide as saucers. "No, grew it after the case. Also cut my hair to this length." Deeks pointed to his head before he cleared the driver's license photo off the big screen. "I got back to the bar and sent Ruben and Bates an e-mail that I needed to see them and gave them a brief rundown on Saturday and Sunday. Cops came by around four and told me I could reopen Monday so I had the night off. Didn't hear from either of them. All day Monday, nothing. Monday night, we've got football on the big TV and the USC crowd is back for Carson Palmer against the Pats when Bates walks in and greets me like long lost family."

"Did he ever do that before?"

"First and last time he appeared on an undercover of mine. Told me my cousin Andrea was unhappy but he thought I should let her cool off for a while. I asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner and just then, Boothe walks in. Bates says we should go out for dinner, I needed a change of scenery so I left just as Boothe was being seated."

"How often did you leave the bar, Mr. Deeks?"

"Rarely at night. Some of the Sundays in the summer were really dead so I left early but with all the security camera feeds in my apartment, I could watch what was going on. Dinner that night was at Anna's with LAPD watching Boothe at Boogie's. Ruben was at dinner, so was Vern Johnson from Missing Persons. Moran was working on a television show that was shooting that Sunday night. He never showed. He was not someone who didn't show up for work so one of the PA's was detailed to his home. Not there. Didn't answer calls. The executive producer did some cop shows over the years and had friends in the Department including Roger Bates. The producer is also former military so he was tight with Moran on the set. Called in a favor and had Moran listed as a missing person."

"Where was Ms. Miller during this meeting?"

"She was sent all the info, including the missing persons report on Moran. She asked Bates if this was my first undercover assignment and if the Department knew I was a prude at best and a bigoted homophobe at worse."

Kensi gasped. "Is she kidding?"

"No. She declined attending the meeting. She said that Boothe was grown man whose interest in men or women was none of our business." Deeks shrugged. "If he wasn't the focus of an FBI investigation from the Violent Crime Unit, if he wasn't following me around or if he wasn't claiming he was following me around because he didn't know how to deal with people, maybe. If Lt. Moran wasn't so wasted when I saw him and missing after that, maybe. All of this together was a problem."

"What did you do?"

"All the beach substations were told to look for Moran. He was a surfer. They parked a patrol vehicle outside his West Hollywood apartment. Boothe was more of a problem. The Department couldn't tail him. Rich guy, no record..."

"Even with all the stolen goods in his pool house?"

"The FBI wanted that as a fallback position to whatever they were doing. I spent the next few days at the bar. Boothe showed up for lunch one day with a woman."

"Was that a first?" Eric asked.

"First mealtime companion, male or female, ever," Deeks told them. He threw a photo up of a slim, blonde woman. "Elizabeth Kelly was, at the time, the assistant CFO at Boothe Financial. She was about his age, Stanford grad at 19, Wharton MBA/JD three years later. I never spoke with her except at the bar but she told investigators that she was asked to drop by Boothe's place out of the blue to discuss some charitable ideas he had. She was surprised when the meeting was over and he invited her to such a kitschy little place like Boogie's."

"What happened to Miss Kelly?"

"She's the CEO of Boothe Financial. All the business columnists at the Times and financial magazines said she was the real deal and was the right person to run the company while Boothe was in jail. Speaking of which," Deeks took a deep breath, "on Friday, October 5th, a headless body was found by an early morning walker washed up on the rocks in Portuguese Bend. Big tattoo across the torso..."

"Moran," Kensi and Eric said in unison.

"Yes." Deeks put crime scene photos up. "I get a call on the bar's phone from Bates just as the lunch crowd started in telling me to stay put, Ruben would be dropping by for a briefing. Lunch crowd comes, lunch crowd goes and around two-thirty, in walks Boothe for lunch. Carrie takes his order and I stop by for a chat to discuss Elizabeth Kelly, some charity ideas he has and how he wants Boogie's to cater an event on the beach. We're having a nice talk when Ruben comes in with about a half dozen uniforms."

Kensi's phone rang. "Hello." She listened for a few seconds before saying "okay" and handing the phone to Deeks. "Bates" she mouthed to him.

"I'm here," Deeks said into the phone.

"Are you not answering my calls on purpose or does the Department have to issue you a new cellphone?" Bates demanded.

"I'm going to put you on speaker," Deeks told him. "You're on with Kensi Blye, Hetty Lange and NCIS Technical Analyst Eric Beale."

"I finally may have some good news. Andrea Miller was called back to Washington rather suddenly after this morning's meeting," Bates told them. As everyone in Ops eyes turned to Hetty, Bates said, "I don't know who you called Ms. Lange, but when they told Miller to return to Quantico, she was booking her flight at the elevator door."

"I just explained to a friend that we needed a few days to prepare to work with Miss Miller and they were happy to call for a review of her handling of the case in front of an FBI assembly tomorrow. It is at 8AM Eastern time since she's shown her appreciation for an early morning meeting," Hetty said with a smile.

"Well, I'd like a meeting with you, Deeks. I'm guessing Agent Blye and Ms. Lange will want to be there."

"Do you remember where we met during the Clarence Fisk investigation?" Kensi asked.

"The place in the marina, sure. I need some coffee and Ramos needs to calm down."

"Still muttering in Spanish?" Deeks joked.

"Spanish, yes. Muttering, no," Bates joked right back. Andrea Miller's absence seemed to improve everyone's mood.

"Why don't you get some breakfast and we'll meet in an hour. Lieutenant, if you could, would you and Sgt. Ramos to turn off your phones before leaving your office," Hetty asked.

"And I'll watch for a tail. See you there." Bates disconnected.

Deeks handed her phone back to Kensi. "I'm sorry about all of this."

"Mr. Deeks, no apologies needed. Why don't you continue with the debrief and we'll make plans accordingly."

"OK, it gets a little sketchy for me at this point," Deeks told them as he kept an eye on Kensi. "When the uniforms yelled freeze and moved to our table, Boothe picked up his knife and ran it through my neck."

-30-


	3. Survivor

3\. "Is this some sort of test?"  
"Indeed. Everything that doesn't kill you is."  
"Mind you," he added, "surviving doesn't always mean you passed." - Michelle Sagara, "Cast in Secret"

"He did what? Why didn't you ever..." Kensi stopped talking suddenly when she saw everyone's attention move her way.

Deeks watched Kensi catch herself and smiled. "Kensi, it's fine. I'm here, so I obviously things turned out fine."

"That's what Sgt. Ramos meant by the longest car ride of his life," Hetty said, putting some pieces together.

"Yeah, Ruben grabbed a bar towel and got another cop, I don't really remember who, and they tried to walk me to a patrol car."

"Tried?" Kensi was getting less happy by the minute.

"I lost my footing when we got near the car and the two of them dragged me into the backseat. I don't remember anything after Ruben yelling directions to UCLA Medical Center until I woke up and saw Ruben's daughter doing her math homework and sitting with me. Ruben's wife made him go home for a shower and a meal. Maribel was a volunteer at a hospital by their house so Mrs. Ruben used her to get her husband home. She's in Med School now."

"I remember when I was back the following summer hearing the bar was closed because someone was almost killed in a fight," Eric added, stunned. "It was you."

"I wasn't almost killed. Really, there was just a lot of blood and a lot more luck. Boothe managed to miss everything important."

"How is Boothe getting out of jail if he tried to murder a police officer?" Kensi demanded.

Deeks shrugged sheepishly. "He was never officially charged with assaulting a police officer."

"And how did that happen, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty joined Kensi on the outrage bandwagon.

"LAPD got a search warrant after Boothe was arrested for what happened in the bar. No surprise, they found all the stolen property exactly where I said it would be." Deeks put up a photo of the LAPD evidence garage with boxes of evidence. "Obviously, I was out of the loop for a bit but right after Boothe was arraigned his lawyer came up with a deal for the D.A.'s Office. He'd do five years for possession of stolen goods and on a misdemeanor assault charge and a couple of years on parole if the D.A.'s Office would guarantee him a bed in the CMC."

"He went to a minimum security facility. Mr. Deeks, that's outrageous."

"No, he was in the eastern wing, which has cells and fences. The D.A.'s Office got a guarantee he'd do every day of his sentence and he actually did an extra ten months for assorted violations while he was inside. If you ask anyone in the D.A.'s Office, they saw this as a big win for them."

"What about you?" Kensi interrupted.

"Kensi, you know the D.A.'s Office has had more than a few high profile losses over the years with wealthy defendants. O.J. anyone? Boothe was probably worth close to a quarter of a billion dollars the day he was arrested. All this happened before the financial meltdown and even with it, he'd have the money and the legal team to keep the D.A.'s Office in knots for years. Phil Spector anyone? I'd have been ruined. Everything in my life would have been under a microscope. My career as an undercover cop would be over two years after it started because there would have been wall to wall press coverage."

"So you let them talk you into agreeing to the deal," Kensi said.

"I don't get to sign off on deals the D.A.'s Office cuts. State of California charged him, not me. After it happened, I just wanted to go back to work and prove I was good at what I do."

"Where was Miss Miller during all of this?" Hetty asked.

"Covering her ass big time in Washington. Bates had a friend in the Bureau who told him she was blaming her loss of Boothe on LAPD in general, Bates and me in particular. She never told them about the stolen goods. She never told them the particulars of how I saw Corey Moran. She never told the FBI she was keeping us in the dark about why she was investigating Boothe. While I was laid up at home, Bates asked me to write up a complaint against Miller for my personnel file and e-mail it to him. He wrote up one of his own and sent the two complaints to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the FBI."

"I assume there was a hearing," Kensi said, still annoyed. "Or did they also decide that trying to kill you doesn't count."

"No, the FBI was receptive to the complaints. Andrea Miller was not Miss Congeniality in the Hoover Building. By the time the Boothe case imploded, the professional knives were out, no pun intended. We were flown in, testified about the case. It seems she sold Boothe to the Bureau as the next big serial killer." Deeks put six photos of six men with long, blonde hair. "Besides Lt. Moran, there were a half-dozen other men who washed up along the coastline south of Santa Monica. All of them were naked, like Moran. All had serious ink like Moran, all were either gay or bi-sexual. All were missing a body part - hands, feet, an ear. None of them had any real connection to LA or family in the area."

"Boothe could make them disappear and nobody would notice."

"And who would think a lonely gazillionaire was killing people. And I think it is people."

"Mr. Deeks?"

Deeks hit another key and the photos of four women appeared, all resembled Elizabeth Kelly. "These four women were found dead, washing up on the beach around the same time the dead men started appearing. Except for one, none of them had any family in the area or any connection to the other victims. All were seriously inked. Amanda Webb, the third dead woman, did know Darren Gardner, the fourth official victim. They disappeared around the same time."

"When was this possible set of victims discovered?" Eric asked. He started to run his own search.

"I was back to work a week before I was supposed to go to Washington for Andrea Miller's hearing. Bates had me deskbound, preparing for the hearing. I started looking over Boothe's real FBI file and wondered if there were more victims. I started looking at reports of people washing up on the beach and went for there."

"What did the FBI think of your work?" Kensi asked.

"I met with the profiler at the BSU, I don't remember her name. Sorry. The profiler said she was open to the idea that the UNSUB slash Moran could have killed others but didn't see the same patterns in the female victims that I did. That makes sense since she never met Elizabeth Kelly. Their bodies were also returned intact but badly beaten, something the FBI thought didn't work with Boothe's M.O. The bruises on the body could have been from being tossed around in the water for days. There were other differences. The men washed up after about a week in the water, give or take a day. The women showed up two or three weeks after they disappeared. The women were all also reported missing early into their disappearances. Two of the male victims were never reported as missing."

"I don't have much on these missing women," Eric looked at the files. "One is called a drowning and not a homicide."

"I don't like coincidences, so I was suspicious. Still am. The profiler said she was going to track other missing men and women in Boothe's travels but wasn't sold on the women as Boothe's victims. Back to what we really know about the case, Andrea Miller was removed from Violent Crimes and sent to the New York Office which is considered a big punishment in the Bureau."

"Why?" Eric asked.

"New York is an expensive place to live on an FBI salary. While working with Violent Crimes, she was staying in DC in a studio apartment in a suite of apartments owned by her father's lobbying firm. Since she was being reassigned to New York as a punitive action, she did not get the usual relocation bonus agents usually earn. She was put in the White Collar division which until 2008 didn't hold the same high profile as Violent Crimes. She wound up doing good work there."

"And you know this how, Mr. Deeks?"

Deeks threw up a 2009 New York Times article on the big screen. "She was lead investigator on a case right after the financial meltdown. There was a big Ponzi scheme at one of the mid-level brokerage firms and there were actual convictions based on her work. She started rehabilitating her reputation. I still was stunned when you, Hetty, told me she was an Assistant Director."

"So what's the plan?" Eric asked.

"I don't know about and of you but I could use some breakfast," Deeks said. He smiled, "Well, I probably know Kensi could use some breakfast, too."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Hetty told the group. "Mr. Beale, Miss Blye, would you two mind picking up something for Mr. Deeks and yourselves. I'd like to speak with him alone for a few minutes. We'll reconvene in the lounge area downstairs when you return."

"Egg white primavera omelet from Norm's?" Kensi knew the order but she still asked him. After a quick Deeks nod, she turned to Hetty, "Is there anything you'd like Hetty?"

"A nice bowl of fresh fruit and some Greek yogurt, please."

"We'll be back," Eric said as he and Kensi left.

"Where does this leave us, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked once they were alone.

"I'm not sure if there is an 'us,' Hetty."

"Mr. Deeks, NCIS has as much jurisdiction in this case as the FBI and the LAPD. Lt. Moran may have been in the process of separating himself from the Navy but his paperwork has him still as an active member of the service at the time of his death."

"Then call Agent Yates and get her involved. Hetty, I'm not sure about how LAPD is going to handle this but based on this morning, Andrea Miller is a problem."

"A problem we can handle."

"I don't want anyone here to have to handle her."

"Mr. Deeks..."

"Hetty, she can't ruin me with the LAPD because I'm basically ruined anyway..."

"Detective, you need to stop blaming yourself for the problems in this case."

"You know what I mean, Hetty. I'm not going to get damaged in the eyes of the LAPD because of who I am and because Bates doesn't trust her. Any bad reports up my chain of command from Assistant Director Miller, God, that's unbelievable, won't carry much weight. If she finds out I'm Kensi's partner," Deeks shook his head, "I'm not letting her run Kensi's career into a ditch because she thinks I'm responsible for her problems."

"Miss Blye is more than capable of protecting her career. It's obvious she's also still very worried about you."

"If this is about the spring and summer, I'm fine."

"And Miss Blye's influence on you grows by the day." Hetty walked over to the work table. "Mr. Deeks, we will put together a plan that will lead to Mr. Boothe's arrest, keep Ms. Miller in check, protect you, Miss Blye, Miss Blye's career and this agency. You are not that novice undercover detective. I'm going to ask Roger Bates for a copy of all the work you did in this undercover assignment. I'm finding there are significant holes in your files here."

"It was typical stings, monitoring buy and busts, the undercover cop usuals."

"Your stabbing, which I have a feeling you more than glossed over for Miss Blye's sake, is missing from your medical history."

"I warned you Andrea Miller is good."

"And I saw far too much of your medical background after you and Mr. Hanna were rescued last spring to miss an on-duty assault as serious as a stabbing. How long were you hospitalized?"

"Two or three days. I missed about a month's worth of work. I got lucky, if you want to call it that, when I got to UCLA. There was one of the Disney TV star kids who decided to film his own little version of the TV show "Jackass" unsuccessfully. He tried to ride a modified snowmobile down the stairs at Murphy Ranch. Wound up with a broken nose, cuts and bruises to his face. The doctor saw me come in, heard I was a cop and offered to stitch me up pro bono once the bleeding stopped. I have two scars that if you know they're there, you see them but the beard covers a lot of sins."

"When this is over, I'm going to have a long talk with Lt. Bates and see what else is missing from your personnel record." Hetty started moving to toward the door. "Mr. Deeks, you were on your own in that bar. You're not on your own here."

Deeks watched Hetty leave and started to pack up his laptop. He noticed the time on the computer was 7:21AM. One of those rare days when the Marines had nothing on him. He walked his dog, met with three bosses and a woman professionally scorned, had to explain one of the biggest failures of his professional career to two women he admired and close friend and now there was going to be a big meeting to fix his life. God, he was in bed sleeping two and a half hours ago and happy.

"Hey, earth to Deeks," Kensi walked in front of him, waving her hand.

"Hey. Please tell me you got some coffee with the food."

"Soy latte, large. Your omelet is downstairs, too. Even got you a Vanilla PowerBar for the ride over to the boat shed since you've had a rough morning."

Deeks smiled. "And I owe you breakfast at some point."

"I'd take an explanation instead. Why didn't you ever tell me about this?"

"You want a detailed explanation of every failed case I've been involved with? We may be celebrating your twentieth year with NCIS before I'm done."

"You can narrow it down to the ones where you get stabbed, shot, badly beaten or hospitalized," Kensi voice was a mix of anger and hurt. "My God, Deeks, were you ever going to tell me about this? You and I once went over a long list of who you arrested…"

"…And I told you Sebastian Boothe was doing two more years."

"You never told me about being stabbed in the line of duty."

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Would you like me to talk my clothes off and we can do an inventory of every bump, bruise, scar and mark I have."

"That's not funny and you know it."

"It would be fun," he half-leered at her, trying a bit too hard to change the subject. "Then you can take your clothes off and I can do a thorough examination."

"Again, not funny."

"I'll be happy to have this conversation with you in a room without the finest surveillance equipment known to mankind. Right now, I need coffee, food and you to stop worrying about me and start worrying about yourself."

"Me?"

"You. My problems aren't your problems." Deeks stood and started walking with her to the door.

"The hell they aren't."

"Fine, my problem right now is keeping you, Hetty and my position here with NCIS away from Andrea Miller. If you can come up with a plan to hide a large federal agency from a larger and more annoying federal agency, I'm all ears." He took Kensi's hand and gave it a little squeeze before walking down the stairs. "Thank you for everything this morning."

"We're a team, Deeks and we're in this together."

He found a little comfort in that.

"You work here?" Ruben asked Deeks as he entered the boat shed. Deeks, Kensi and Hetty were sitting at the table when Bates and Ruben walked in. "This is different."

"This is a secure meeting location for our agency, Sergeant," Hetty answered. "While Det. Deeks and Agent Blye spend considerable time here interrogating suspects or interviewing witnesses, the actual NCIS offices are in a different, more secure location."

"A pleasure to see you again, Agent Blye." Ruben was all smiles.

"Please, it's Kensi. Good to see you too, Sergeant. Lt. Bates, nice to see you as well."

"I only get to see you and Ms. Lange when there's trouble," Bates grumbled. "Is he behaving himself?"

"I am in the room, you know," Deeks said.

"Yes, and we're hoping to keep you in the room going forward. Gentlemen, please sit down," Hetty called the meeting to order. "Detective Deeks filled us in on the Sebastian Boothe case. Is there anything you can add?"

"The FBI kept us out of loop with Boothe. We were told he was under investigation for financial crimes, not a suspect in multiple missing persons turned murder cases," Bates told the group. "I don't know where we thought Corey Moran was after Deeks saw him and he was reported missing but everything we heard from Andrea Miller and all of Deeks's weekly reports made Boothe seem like a strange but harmless man."

"So, to be clear, the LAPD believes Boothe killed those young men," Hetty asked.

"There is a video of Boothe with one of the victims, helping a drunk Thomas Carr outside the Bar at Chateau Marmont. Of course, the FBI never told us about this. Carr was a twenty-eight year old freelance writer with no family. The first time LAPD knew he was missing was when he washed up off Lunada Bay. The funny thing, well not funny, was that he had stories showing up for about a month after his death at his online magazine. His work was sitting in a queue and ready to go on specific days so he could have been missing for weeks and his employer would not know anything was wrong."

"When exactly is Boothe being released from prison?" Kensi asked.

"He's out a week from Thursday at 6AM. He will need to check in with a parole officer once a week for a year after his release."

"Just a year?" Deeks was surprised.

"He's going to return to the CMC once a week for the next three years to continue mentoring the inmates." Bates's eye roll would have been the envy of a teenage girl.

"Who is he mentoring?" Deeks wondered.

"He's helped a number of inmates get their financial houses in order. Helped set up savings accounts, handled some debt management, even taught classes in how to put together a budget, how to read the financial statements, the stocks columns in the papers or online."

"Great, "The Shawshank Redemption II" come to life." Deeks sighed.

"They should have never let him make that deal," Ruben muttered.

"But the District Attorney's Office did, so now we need a plan," Hetty said.

The plasma screen came to life and Eric appeared. "Sorry to interrupt."

"Eric Beale, this is Ruben Ramos, LAPD retired and Lt. Roger Bates, LAPD boss," Deeks offered as an introduction. "Ruben, Lieutenant, this is Eric Beale, NCIS computer wunderkind."

"Deeks, someone has just tried to download your personnel file from both LAPD and from NCIS. It was a well-masked request through the Marshal's Office using the Ray Martindale/Nelson Sanders investigation to cover the request."

"Unbelievable," Kensi threw her hands up.

"What did she get?" Deeks asked, knowing full well the request did not come from the Marshal's Office.

"Nothing. As soon as I upped the security clearance needed for your files, I added a notice that said the ISP for any request would be traced and reported to NCIS, the DoD, LAPD and you. Once it appeared, the computer was disconnected. I was able to trace to the request to the Admiral's Club at LAX. Andrea Miller is on an 11AM flight to DC." Eric put up security video of the Admiral's Club on the screen, "As you can see, Assistant Director Miller was the person making the request." The few minutes old footage showed Miller quickly powering down her computer.

"Mr. Beale, would you send me a copy of the computer records and the video footage," Hetty smiled. "I may need to share that with an old friend or two."

"Done," Eric told her.

"I'd like a copy for my files as well," Bates said to Eric.

"Of course," Eric quickly signed off.

"I believe by this time tomorrow Miss Miller will be at least temporarily neutralized but Mr. Boothe is and must continue to be the focus of our attention."

"Agreed," Deeks and Bates said simultaneously.

"Do you have a plan, Deeks?" Bates asked. Turning to Kensi and Hetty, he remarked, "This is when he usually starts selling me on a bad idea."

Deeks took a deep breath. "It's not a bad idea if you just hear me out. I think we can all agree I'm probably where I should be with the liaison position. I'd like to do whatever I can to protect that..."

"I'd argue this position has not been the best position for you but go on," Bates told him.

"And I'd argue that you don't need to protect anyone or anything but yourself," Hetty added.

"It was a tough spring and summer but things are better now and I want to keep them that way. I also want to get Sebastian Boothe back in jail. We're all on the same page there. Lieutenant, I'd like to keep my current apartment out of this. Does the Department..."

"I think I may have the perfect place for you."

"Are you going back in as Edward Martin?" Ruben asked.

"Nope. Different idea. Any spare space in the Admin Building? I'd need a small office but one with limited access."

"Why would you need an office?" Kensi asked.

"I think I'm taking the liaison position on the road. The office would have to look like I've been there for a while."

Kensi did not look happy as Bates said "I can find you a spot."

"What are your plans, Detective?" Hetty asked.

"Set myself up in a small office in the Admin Building or some precinct if you can't find the room. I want to have it look like the liaison position is more along the lines of what Dave Simmons is doing with the FBI."

"Simmons is two months away from retiring," Bates told the group. "He's shuffling papers until he's done."

"He's doing more than shuffling papers but he is sitting in an office coordinating investigations with the FBI. He's doing what I thought the liaison position was going to be when I was assigned to NCIS. Having what looks like a desk job frees me up to deal with Boothe and if Andrea Miller comes looking for me, she doesn't wind up here."

"You'd be alone. That's unacceptable," Kensi told him

"I'll be fine. I'll be in a secure location and if I could have an office where I can buzz people in, that would be even better."

Bates nodded.

"While you being away from our offices may keep the offices secure Detective, how does this help LAPD and NCIS investigate Sebastian Boothe?" Hetty wondered.

"Boothe is leaving lock-up and probably looking to get back into the swing of being a free man," Deeks smiled. "Probably looking forward to going back to that fabulous house. Probably looking to find a new place to eat, new people to follow and new people to kill."

"Spit it out Deeks," Bates told him.

"If Boothe gets out of jail next Thursday, I'm going to the house on Friday to renew our friendship and clear up a point of confusion. I plan on walking in and introducing myself as Detective Marty Deeks, LAPD and tell him I know exactly who he is and exactly what he did."

"How long did it take you to come up with that plan?" Bates asked while an aghast Kensi told him, "You're insane."

"Lieutenant, Kensi, it makes perfect sense. This guy just spent five years thinking he got away with murder. Literally. He thinks he stabbed his local friendly barkeep and got off on a misdemeanor. He thinks he was a jail for five years for stealing things over half his life. He thinks he's winning. He's out next Thursday so he's sure he's won. He's wrong. Who better to remind him that he's going to be on parole than Detective Misdemeanor Assault. Since he's on parole, I'm going to be able to walk into that home at any time, no warrant and check things out. And I plan on doing that regularly."

"You're going to provoke him," Ruben said.

"Provoke, no. Just let him know he's on the docket."

"You're not doing this alone, Mr. Deeks."

"No Hetty, we can coordinate with LAPD and NCIS to have people around while I'm making Boothe uncomfortable."

"What if he starts following you again?" Kensi asked. "Or is that part of the plan."

"First, if he's following me he's not killing anyone. Second, I can find another ice pick."

It was obvious to Deeks that Bates was working through the plan in his mind. "Deeks, he's going to have lawyers. They're going to file complaints."

"And if he's following me, I can file complaints back. My complaints can mess with his parole, put him back in the CMC. He made this deal with the D.A.'s Office. I can make him realize he's going to have to live with it."

"What happens when you're off duty, Deeks?" Kensi asked.

"Well, that's why I need a different apartment. I'm sure we can set up some surveillance and some extra security."

"You need more back-up," she complained.

"Where I'm going to put him, Agent Blye, there will be an undercover detective nearby," Bates assured Kensi.

Kensi still objected. "That's not good enough."

"Kens, I know what's coming this time," Deeks told her.

"I find myself agreeing with Miss Blye. Several armed officers were closer than 'nearby' when Mr. Deeks was stabbed several years ago," Hetty noted.

"Respectfully, Ms. Lange," Bates was getting angry, "in something that has become a pattern, a federal investigation did not deem local law enforcement important enough to be brought into a case. Had we known then what we know now about Sebastian Boothe, Deeks would not have been sitting with the suspect during the raid."

"Lieutenant, I know you're still angry about what happened to Mr. Deeks last spring..."

"Detective Deeks, Ms. Lange," Bates snapped.

"I'm sorry, you are correct, it's Detective Deeks. I know you are still angry about what happened to Detective Deeks last spring and I am in no way arguing that Detective Deeks was left in a dangerous situation intentionally by LAPD at the bar. Where my concerns lie, where I believe everyone in this room concerns lie, is keeping Detective Deeks safe while a successful case is built against Sebastian Boothe."

"Deeks needs a girlfriend," Kensi announced.

Deeks smiled and tried to defuse the tension. "I've been telling you that for years Kensi but you won't introduce me to any of your friends."

She rolled her eyes, playing along. "Then they wouldn't be my friends. The person we're presenting to Sebastian Boothe and really A.D. Miller, that Marty Deeks, needs a girlfriend."

"If she's volunteering," Ruben said to Deeks, "you are the luckiest man in America."

"Can NCIS spare Agent Blye, Ms. Lange?" Bates asked.

"Lieutenant, I do believe this case would work best as a joint LAPD-NCIS operation so Agent Blye would be part of the investigation. Detective Deeks and Agent Blye have posed as a couple before..."

"Why don't you tell me these things," Ruben whispered to Deeks.

"This has to be a joint investigation, I want one of my detectives working with Deeks on this."

"I don't need a babysitter," Deeks told his boss.

"No, but if you're going to be aggressive with Sebastian Boothe, Deeks, I want every angle covered. You ditch your partner here," Bates pointed to Kensi, "or who I assign to work with you, your ass will be back in Legal and if you're good, I'll let you draft any search warrants we issue for Boothe's cars or property."

"Yes, sir."

"Lieutenant, if Sebastian Boothe is returning to Sea Lane Drive, it wouldn't do to have Detective Deeks and Agent Blye living too far away."

"As I mentioned earlier, I have a place in mind. I think Deeks will be happy. You're going back to Malibu, kid."

Deeks lit up, "Sully's old place. I loved that place."

"Finally sold at auction while you were in the hospital last spring. I've got someplace else nearby. I assume Agent Blye won't be Agent Blye on this assignment?"

"No, what do you have in mind Lieutenant?" Hetty asked.

"Arthur Winston, who was the TV producer who employed Corey Moran at the time of Moran's death, has always wanted to help. He's former military, a Marine pilot in the Gulf War and now with the Reserves. Interested in a career in show business, Agent Blye? Because where I'm putting Deeks, you're going to have to be the breadwinner."

Kensi looked at Deeks. "Marty Deeks, kept man."

"Only by you, darlin', only by you." Deeks winked at Kensi.

"We'll need to run a full background on Mr. Winston and I would like to meet with the man but that should be acceptable," Hetty said. "If it is alright with you, Lieutenant, I'd like my staff to wire both the house and office space Detective Deeks will be using."

"As for the office space, I'll contact you in the morning when I have an official place to store Deeks. The house is already wired. I've got a long running undercover going on in that location, you can take the same feeds LAPD has."

"Matthew is in Malibu, isn't he?" Deeks asked.

"Yes he is, and he needs you almost as much as you're going to need him."

-30-

Thank you all for the kind feedback, follows and favorites. I am so thrilled by it all.


	4. Damage

**4**. "A little damage makes people more interesting, right?" - Catherine Hapka, "Something Borrowed"

 

Four days after the phone woke Deeks in his own apartment and after a long day at NCIS, Nell dropped Deeks and Kensi off at "their" new home with Monty in tow. The two-bedroom, two-bath cottage on the Pacific Coast Highway was tiny compared to the Malibu estates that shared the beachfront but it was the appropriate size for a lawyer/detective/liaison and his live-in girlfriend Chloe Farr, a supervising producer/military expert for a television production company. What the property also had was one bedroom, one bathroom guest house just off the highway where LAPD had an undercover officer stationed.

Looking at the ocean views and beach, Deeks turned to Kensi, "I really need to start playing the Power Ball."

"You do know the odds of winning are like one in one hundred seventy-five million."

He smiled at her. "So you're telling me there's a chance."

Kensi shook her head. "Would you really be happy here?"

"Lately, I've been happy to be anywhere, Kens. But if you're asking would I like to live on the beach, the answer is yes. Lived not too far from here for a year in law school, lived about two miles from here for a summer as Sully. Trust me, there are far worse LAPD cover houses."

"Are we going to have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming when Boothe's back in jail?" she looked up the stairs to where the bedroom and home office were. The home office was set up by Nell and was a mini-Ops center.

"If I can get Boothe back in prison, I'll be happy to go back to my apartment and live there for the rest of my life."

Monty barked and sat by the front door.

"Someone needs a walk," Deeks noted, looking for the dog's beach leash. As he searched for it in a box with "Monty" written on it, Kensi walked up to the master bedroom and returned in a racer's tank top, a pair of running shorts and sneakers.

"Since we need to establish ourselves as locals, I'll take Monty for a run. You can start dinner."

"You will have to run at Monty's pace and not Kensi's pace," he said as he finally found the leash. "The wonderdog has had a lazy fall."

"Come on, Monty. You and I are going to see the neighborhood," Kensi said as Deeks put on the leash. "And I think you can keep up, unlike others." Kensi gave Deeks a faux-withering look.

"Kens, Boothe's house is two miles southwest from here. I don't want you to get in trouble before we've even begun."

"I'm just a nice, local girl out for a run with her dog. What possibly could go wrong?"

For the last year, Deeks wondered what exactly had gone right. Then again, the one thing that actually did go well was standing in front of him about to run with his dog. "Be careful," he half-warned, half-asked as she walked to the sliding door off the living room that was just steps away from the beach.

"Check the place for bugs. I know LAPD told you there weren't any in the bedroom or bathrooms, just panic buttons, but I don't need an audience when I change."

"If I find anything, you realize you may have already given the boys downtown a show."

"Had the top on already and they'll see more of me in a bathing suit in the next few weeks than in what's under the shorts."

"Why must you tease me like this?" he asked as she walked to the sliding back door, leading to the beach. "Watch yourself."

"You do the same. Come on, Monty," Kensi pulled the leash and the two started their way down the beach.

Deeks did a thorough search of the master bedroom, finding two cameras and mikes, and was just finishing the main bathroom, again with two cameras and mikes, when he heard the sliding door open. Figuring it was too early for Kensi to return, he took his weapon and walked down to the living area. Deeks found his LAPD minder for the case admiring the food in the fridge and holding a beer.

"Matthew, please don't tell me you have the munchies. I watched you personally eat your weight in Cheetos every week for 282-days in 2008."

Matt Bernhart turned around and smiled. "Since you were being a choir boy and not partaking in the fine herb the Peterson brothers were moving, someone had to show the locals we were world-class weed dealers and not undercover cops."

"You were baked for months."

"These are the sacrifices I make to keep our fine city safe." Matt closed the refrigerator door and walked over to Deeks. Pulling Deeks into a bro-hug while never letting go of his beer, Matt said, "Martin, the last time I saw you, you had tubes in your mouth, tubes in your arm and your jaw was black and swollen. It is so good to see you up and tubeless."

"I don't remember you being there." Deeks pulled away. "Weren't you on a job?"

"I was but I sat for a night. The lovely nurse April gave me a full rundown on your med load so it's no surprise you remember nothing," Matt's tone turned serious. "I was there a day or two after they found you. You were in bad shape." Matt walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. "How are you doing?"

"You kidding? I'm back and better than ever."

"Bullshit," Matt said without any malice. "You're barely back on your feet and effin' Sebastian Boothe is up next. Martin, if you didn't have bad luck, you'd have no luck at all."

"What do you know about Sebastian Boothe?" Deeks asked.

"Until Bates gave me a three hour debrief this morning, nothing. While you were busy running a bar, I was working for World's Best Courier as a driver in with a black-market pharmaceuticals ring. Heard from Ruben you got stabbed but you were fine and a few months later, you and I were Patrick and Paul Peterson, the princes of pot of the Pacific Palisades."

"That was a nice house," Deeks told him as he sat on one of the living room chairs. "If a little too far from the beach for my liking."

"We were six blocks away from the water. I'm sure you think this place isn't close enough."

"This place is heaven," Deeks almost sighed. "I really need to start playing the Power Ball."

"Isn't this where I walked in?" Kensi asked as she returned with Monty. "Matt?"

"If it isn't my favorite bank robbery victim," Matt smiled as he stood.

"You two know each other? Of course you do, what am I saying? Matthew knows everyone." Deeks shook his head.

"Before we had a liaison officer, we had Matt," Kensi gave Matt a hug. "Matt shot me in a bank robbery," Kensi told Deeks, smiling.

"They've never let me do fun things like shoot her," Deeks told Matt.

"That's because she's too busy kicking your ass," Matt said as he looked at Monty, "Hello, Monty."

"What are you doing here, Matt?" Kensi asked.

"Guess who lives in the guest house?" Matt beamed, kneeling next to Monty and rubbing the dog's neck.

"That's Matthew?" Kensi turned to Deeks.

"That's Matthew," Deeks confirmed.

"It's an old joke. When you're in trouble with LAPD, everything is Matthew Campbell Bernhart, Martin...," Matt snapped his fingers a couple of times, trying to remember.

"Andrew."

"Martin Andrew, thank you, Deeks. Matt and Marty sound like a pair of troublemaking, loser cops. Matthew and Martin, however, are a pair of upstanding and outstanding detectives," Matt smiled at Kensi. "The full names stuck."

"Should I be worried that the Matthew and Martin duo are back together?" Kensi asked, half-joking.

"No," Matt sighed as he stood, turning serious. "It's been made clear to me that if anything happens to Detective Martin Andrew Deeks, I'm going to be cleaning up after the dogs in the K-9 Division until retirement."

"What did you do now?" Deeks asked, concerned.

Matt did a small tilt of his head in Kensi's direction.

"Kensi's cool. We're all in this together, everyone needs to be honest," Deeks told Matt.

"My cover here for the last nine months was part-time stuntman, personal trainer, occasional security. Got involved with a director and his wife. He makes schlocko movies that make "Sharknado" look like "Life of Pi." They needed someone to do a few side jobs for them outside of weight training. There was a little HGH, a little steroid use just to get close to the dealer."

"Man, you're insides are going to fall out if you keep messing with the product," Deeks said. "What were you doing?"

"A little of this, a little of that," Matt smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "I told you, these are the sacrifices I make to keep our city safe. I've been clean for about a month."

"How pissed is Bates?"

Matt shrugged. "He pulled me out of here after the supplier was arrested. I was a little hyper."

"Steroid psychosis?" Kensi asked.

"Just some anger issues and I wasn't sleeping much. Once I got off the stuff, things were better. I'm on double secret probation or something with Bates."

"Talk to Frank Torres?" Deeks asked. Seeing Kensi's confusion he added, "Our union rep."

"I help you get Sebastian Boothe, all's forgiven. Torres isn't involved. Outside of you two, nobody but Bates knows. The director was flipped for the dealer; the dealer was flipped for his supplier. I'm long out of the case when it comes to any court appearances."

There was a long silence. "Anything about the house I should know?" Deeks asked.

"Entrance areas, inside and out, living room, kitchen, home office, patio area and pathway to the beach are wired for video and sound. They'll go live tomorrow when I'm coordinating at the guest house with someone named Eric Beale from your office," Matt pointed to Kensi before continuing. "The different feeds go to LAPD and NCIS. Bedroom and bathrooms don't send the video or audio feed unless you hit a panic button. You hit the button, all video and audio goes live, audio goes two-way. You hit the button, emergency calls are sent to NCIS, the Malibu Sheriff's office, LAPD, Bates's cellphone and me in the guest house."

Deeks nodded. That was a lot more security than he ever had on a case. "Lt. Bates told me he was taking care of our cars. Do you know anything about that?"

Matt nodded. "You've been provided cars from LAPD. They're dropping them off tonight. Kensi, you'll be driving a 2011 Land Rover Range Rover. Deeks, you'll have a beat up old Jeep and a motorcycle. "

"Why do you get two vehicles?" Kensi fake whined.

"Well, one's a bike and I think that will make me a bit harder to follow," Deeks explained.

"Which is the only reason Bates agreed to it," Matt told them.

"And I'm guessing the Jeep is some piece of crap the motor pool guys put back together."

Matt smiled, "It doesn't even have doors. Seems to be appropriate for a cop-surfer-kept man."

Deeks chuckled at "kept man" but Kensi wasn't amused. "That Jeep is going to be very easy to follow."

"Really easy. Bright yellow, according to Bates," Matt started imitating their boss, "Kid, they'd be able to see him from the space shuttle in that."

"GPS in the cars?" Deeks asked.

"Yep. There's also a watch in your bedroom. Movado Men's Bold, Titanium with some sort of "Happy Birthday" engraving. It also has a GPS. Bates told me if you don't have it on when you leave the house every day, he'll track you down, put you back in Legal with an ankle monitor to keep you away from Boothe. There's also a Nike Fuel bracelet that you're to wear working out, swimming, running on the beach, surfing. That has a GPS too. Bates said if he finds you're outside without one of those on your wrist, you're driving a desk while I'll be cleaning dog cages."

"Bates is worried about you," Kensi said.

"He's been on a bit of a tear when it comes to you since you got hurt last spring. He's still well and truly pissed. Your agency," Matt pointed to Kensi again, "didn't tell LAPD Martin was missing for hours and didn't tell Bates he was hurt until after he was in the hospital for a day. Bates nearly ended all federal agency liaison programs in mid-June."

"I talked him out of that," Deeks told Matt.

"You and the Commissioner. Though the Commissioner saw the photos of you in the hospital bed and was closer to Bates's opinion."

"There are photos of me in the hospital bed? When the hell did that happen?"

"Bates took 'em as soon as he got in to see you. He sent them to the Commissioner and Kensi's boss. He wanted to know if that was the face of interdepartmental cooperation."

Kensi added, "Nell told me Hetty spent one whole day on the phone. She was worried something happened to you that day health-wise. Winds up it was career-wise."

"I was blissfully asleep for all of this."

"Yeah, well, I was working with the DEA and FDA on the HGH case so I got to hear a lot of it. Bates is going to make damn sure nothing happens to you on his watch after reading anyone who'd listen the riot act when you were hurt."

"This is getting more complicated by the minute," Deeks ran his hand through his hair. "I worked alone in that bar for nine months. Now everyone is micromanaging things."

"Not micromanaging," Kensi said, "making sure the killer gets caught and you walk away from this case the way you walked in - healthy and alive."

Matt stayed for dinner. Deeks found some tuna steaks in the fridge and grilled them up for the three of them. A little salsa, some grilled veggies and nice 2009 California Pinot Noir completed the meal. Hetty made sure the place was properly stocked.

During the meal, Matt told entertaining tales of Matthew and Martin, LAPD's most misunderstood but best undercover detectives. There was a small disagreement between Matt and Deeks about who was actually the better of the two. Harrowing stories of near misses and questionable behavior were passed off as jokes as only two survivors could do. Matt also mentioned that he missed Renko's funeral because he was part of a joint LAPD-SDPD-CBI-DEA taskforce. He was working in San Diego and regretted not returning even if it was just for a day. Then again, he told them, he was babysitting a CI/meth cook at the time. If he disappeared, Chuck the cook and Matt's career would likely be in the wind too.

Matt left just before ten, making his way to the guest house. His cover remained largely the same one he had for months: Mac Hunter, stuntman, trainer, occasional security. Now he was also a college buddy of Deeks who takes care of Monty and the house when Deeks and Chloe were away.

Deeks made his way to the patio after replacing his wine glass with a bottle of water. He lit an accent lamp on a small table, giving the area a nice, homey feel. Kensi joined him a minute later, still nursing her only glass of wine.

"I thought everyone at LAPD hated you," Kensi said.

"Matthew's my brother from another mother. We lived together for 282-days on one job. It was insane but fun," Deeks smiled at her. "Matthew's insane but fun. One thing, he's living proof that growing up with money doesn't guarantee you a happy childhood. Don't talk family to Matthew. He's the sanest one of all of them and he's about five cans short of a six-pack."

"Is he the right guy to have working this case? I've worked with him. He does violent criminal really well. How's he on running point for security on something like this?"

"Knowing him, we got a cleaned up version of the trouble he's in at LAPD. Matthew does this all the time. If you think I'm "method" when I go undercover, he is a shape shifter. Guarantee you tomorrow around 6AM personal trainer Mac will want you and me to go for a run on the beach or do boot camp-style exercises by the front gate."

"Making sure nothing happens to you means nothing happens to him."

"Probably, but he'd have volunteered for babysitting duty anyway. We've unofficially bailed each other out when things have gone sideways for years."

"You've been bailing each other out or you've bailed him out."

"Two way street. Before NCIS came along, I was working all these solo cases. Needed to get a bar emptied out because something bad was about to happen, one call to Matthew and we'd have that place closed down in ten minutes with the fight of the century. I'm sleeping in a bad spot in my homeless gear, Matthew's around in different looks every day leaving food, cigarettes, whatever. Matthew's in a bad place and needs and extra set of eyes, I can spend a night in an alley or sit in some awful club and make sure he's fine."

"Where was Ruben in all this?"

"Kensi, LAPD isn't NCIS. Ruben would have half-a-dozen investigations going on. He'd have guys working as valets as part of a car theft ring, me running a bar, Matthew working for a courier service. There's no Eric and Nell in Ops watching every step we take. No earwig keeping us connected to other team members. There are no other team members."

"You were on your own."

"Exactly. Made the transition to team NCIS a bit odd. Weapons room, gym, Eric and Nell with the logistics, Hetty and her professional development classes. God, LAPD gave me a gun, someone else's driver's license and pointed me at the bad guy."

"And Bates is complaining about your safety with NCIS?" Kensi wondered.

"Three days in the hospital with Bates, shot in a Chechnyan kidnapping plot and tortured by a Russian arms dealer with NCIS. He's got a point."

Kensi nodded. "Nothing's happening to you this time."

"How could it? I've got my awesome Hollywood type girlfriend Chloe, best buddy Mac, Monty the wonder dog. Only the Hope Diamond has more protection than me."

"Can I ask you something?"

"I doubt I could stop you," he teased.

"You told Matt that we all had to be honest with each other."

"We do."

"Does he know about us?"

"Did he hit on you at dinner?" Deeks asked. When Kensi shook her head no, Deeks smiled. "He knows."

"So you told him."

"No, but he knows."

"How?"

"Brother from another mother. He watched you and me be, well, you and me. He knows me, he knows."

"He didn't hit on me when we worked together a couple of years ago."

"Yeah, somehow I missed that story." Deeks teased her, lifting an eyebrow. "Spill."

"A couple months before you showed up in the boxing ring, we were shorthanded. Dom was missing, Renko started helping out when he could. We needed to set up a fake bank robbery; Matt was one of the robbers."

"And he was probably awesome."

"Renko told me that Sam complimented Matt."

"Wow."

"Renko and I went out for a beer with Matt. He didn't hit on me there, either. Maybe I'm not his type."

"Kensi, Matthew has a pulse, you're his type."

"Then why didn't he hit on me back then?"

"A case where he was working with you, Renko, Sam and Callen? Gee, I wonder how protective the three alpha males would be of a beautiful woman on their team?"

Kensi made a face but it quickly turned to a smile. "You decided to ignore the alpha males."

"That's Martin for you."

x-x-x

Deeks's new office was on a recently reconfigured floor in the Police Administrative Building. Gone was payroll, purchasing and the civilian personnel department. In their places were media relations, the management of the cybercrimes unit, the art theft unit and a corridor with three suites of unidentified offices. Deeks was in one of them. His office suite had an outside area for an assistant and his main office. There was an optical scanner, compliments of NCIS, outside the office suite and again outside of Deeks's office. Deeks's desktop computer could also buzz in visitors.

The office, which was generically decorated save a picture of Kensi sitting next to his computer, was wired for video and sound. From his office, Deeks could see who was walking down the hall, who was entering the suite and who was in the assistant's area. Deeks himself was being watched by cameras shared by the LAPD and NCIS.

Eric and Nell backstopped his presence in different LAPD division offices. According to records they thought would be accessed by Andrea Miller, he would occasionally be called by NCIS for cases but mostly drove a desk in six different locations over three plus years.

Around 4PM on Friday, Deeks got his first guests - Sam and Callen. Wearing visitor's stickers, Deeks buzzed them in.

"Welcome to the new home of the NCIS-LAPD liaison," Deeks stood with his arms out. "At last, a work space befitting a man of my education and achievement," he joked.

"And yet, you looked so comfortable sleeping by the trash can as a homeless man in the Waaldt case," Callen said.

"How'd you get a place with a secretary?" Sam asked, looking at Deeks's office bookcase.

"I got a promotion last summer after the Sidirov case. When Bates put in for a place to put me, I actually grade out with this office space as a Detective III." Deeks pointed to the guest chairs by his desk as he sat down.

"You got a promotion last summer?" Sam asked

"I was up for one for a few cases over the last year. I was told I was promoted in my first meeting with Bates after I was back on duty."

"You didn't tell us," Callen noted.

"Told Hetty."

"Probably told Kensi, too." Sam grumbled.

"Yeah, probably mentioned it to her." Deeks thought it was best not to mention that he and Kensi spent a spa weekend at The Shade Hotel, blowing the two months of back pay he picked up when the promotion was retroactive to July 1st.

"She mentioned to us who your LAPD handler for this case is," Callen brought things back to the case.

"Bates is the handler, Matthew is another detective assigned to the case."

"We didn't know you knew him," Sam said.

"Worked together a few times."

"Kensi mentioned that as well." Callen added.

"My first case wasn't Daniel Zuna. It wasn't Sebastian Boothe. I had a semi-successful career before I met you guys. This may be news but as a detective with the LAPD, I actually know a number of other LAPD detectives."

Callen nodded. "And he's the one who likes you."

"You knew there had to be one," Deeks joked. "You two met Matthew, he's an independent thinker."

"Among other things," Sam noted. "Do you know a former cop named Steve Johnson?"

"Not personally but he was injured in saving two teenagers pinned down in a gang shootout. He's working corporate security if I remember right."

"Works for Dalton, Andrews and Reese," Sam told him.

Deeks nodded. "The big downtown law firm."

"Big downtown law firm that has Boothe Financial and Sebastian Boothe as clients," Callen added.

"Okay," Deeks wasn't sure where this was going.

"He's been sniffing around for the last month or so," Callen continued. "He's looking for one Edward Michael Martin, former bar owner and stabbing victim."

"Dammit. What has he found?" Deeks asked.

"Nothing, LAPD did a good job separating you from Martin. Nell sent him on a wild goose chase this week," Callen chuckled. "Former Officer Johnson flew out to North Platte, Nebraska this morning."

"Probably not going to make much of a dent in his expense account hotel-wise there," Sam joked.

"Probably not," Callen agreed. "Nell plans on having him in Maine when you visit Boothe."

"Don't do that," Deeks told them.

"Excuse me?" Sam said.

"Don't do that that Johnson. Please."

"Why?" Callen asked.

"He's just making a living. Don't screw him over for working an investigation for his law firm. I don't want to do that to another cop."

The room got awfully quiet. Sam finally broke the silence, "We got some news on your girl Andrea Miller."

"She is many things, Sam. My girl isn't any of them," Deeks said sharply.

"Assistant Director Miller is returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday night," Sam told Deeks.

"Awesome."

"Hetty has a few friends in the Bureau," Callen said. "Miller is on notice. She needs to update the Office of Professional Responsibilities about any interaction with you, LAPD or NCIS."

"So she's going to sneak around behind all of our backs."

"Probably. Deeks, we've all got your back," Callen assured him.

"And Lt. Moran's killer is going to be brought to justice," Sam added.

"Kensi check in?" Callen asked.

"Called about an hour ago, she's on her way to Malibu. Arthur Winston is awesome, nobody in the costume department knows what medals go where and the lead actress in one of Winston's hot crime dramas thinks her character looks more bad ass if she holds her gun in sideways. Kensi is taking Amber Hill to a shooting range Monday to show her what bad ass really looks like."

"That's Kensi," Sam smiled.

"So what are you doing here besides fake-liaising?" Callen asked.

"Bates decided he wants a manual on how to be a liaison officer for NCIS in case I ever decide to do something else or LAPD decides I should do something else."

"Hetty would have to approve any replacement," Callen frowned.

"I think Bates wants a fuller review of what my duties are at NCIS," Deeks told them. "LAPD has similar set-ups with the FBI, DEA, ATF and ICE. Nino Lopez with ICE is the only detective, besides me, who isn't working in an LAPD office and visiting their assigned agency as needed."

"You could make all this crap go away by applying to be an NCIS agent," Sam told him.

"I'm just a cop, Sam."

Callen stood. "And we'll leave you to that. Don't have too tough a time this weekend in Malibu."

Smiling again, Deeks told them, "I'll struggle through somehow."

"Hetty's going to want to have a meeting to prepare for your visit with Boothe next Friday. She said free up Tuesday."

"I'll be there."

-30-

Thank you again for all the kind feedback and kudos. I am so grateful.


	5. Do-Overs

**5**. "There are no do-overs in life, Mr. Deeks" - Hetty Lange, "Lone Wolf"

 

Deeks woke alone in bed. Kensi was standing by the window, deep in thought while staring at the ocean.

"Figuring a way to MacGyver your way out of here and away from the cameras?" Deeks asked her.

"I feel like I'm living on that "Big Brother" show."

"Finally living the reality show life you love to watch every night," Deeks teased as he sat up. "I know you're not here to make friends but if you look bad, blame the editing." After he got no reaction, he tried another tack. "Nobody's really paying attention, Kensi. Matt's got our living room lives on in the background, same with the folks in Ops. They're only paying attention if we have company, if there is a breach of the property or if we hit the panic button. Oh wait, are you worried that Sam and Callen are going to learn that you've started watching "Honey Boo Boo" reruns on-demand?"

She turned and moved to the old but really comfortable club chair in the room. "It's good training for working with you," she teased but her heart wasn't really in it.

"What's up? Besides you, that is."

"I'm worried about you."

"And I'm worried about you but since I'm fine and you'll tell me you're fine, let's just move to the part where we're fine."

"No, you're not fine. You're walking in on a serial killer today and thumbing your nose at him. That's dangerous. I can't believe anyone agreed to your insane plan."

"Tell me what you really think, Kens," Deeks sighed.

"We could have gotten someone close to Boothe. He's got to have a staff for that house. We could have sent someone in as a cook or housekeeper."

"Not to be unkind but you'd be lousy at both."

"Not me, someone else," Kensi answered. "And besides, I could fill those undercover positions."

"You can't find the hamper in the bathroom," Deeks teased. "Forget actually cooking a meal."

"I can cook!"

"So if I pick up a nice bit of Dover sole after I see Boothe today, you can prepare it with some appropriate vegetables and a good wine."

"We're eating at Geoffrey's tonight with Sam and Callen watching for Boothe."

"So that's a no."

Kensi stuck her tongue out at him but turned serious. "I am worried about you," she said before put her hand up, stopping him from interrupting. "You've been putting on a great show for everyone but you're still dealing with what happened last spring."

"Everyone's dealing with what happened last spring. Sam's still got monthly cardiologist visits. Bates is still swinging for the ceiling about NCIS. I'm fine and not Kensi fine, fine fine."

"What happens if this goes, to use Matt's favorite word, 'sideways'?"

"I think the current total of NCIS and LAPD personnel that will be near the Sea Lane Drive mansion or monitoring it is closing in on a dozen." Deeks saw she was about to say something but cut her off this time. "And if you're going to bring up my last day at Boogie's with all the cops being there and me getting injured, in a million years I never thought Boothe would hurt me. I know better now." He smiled at her. "And don't quote Matthew. You'll start learning phrases like "you can't make a cake without breaking some eggs" or "it's better to say I'm sorry than may I" awfully quick and that's not going to lead to anything good."

"He's worried about you, too. He thinks you're trying to prove to LAPD and NCIS that what happened to you last spring hasn't impacted your ability to do your job while making up for what you think is an early career failure."

"Wow, Matthew showing off that fancy Masters in Human Behavior that still mystifies LAPD."

"Why would Matt's degree be a mystery to LAPD?"

"They were surprised he was not captured, tagged and released into the wilds of Los Angeles as a test subject for USC's psych department," Deeks chuckled but quickly turned serious. "I am trying to prove myself to LAPD and NCIS since everyone but you is treating me like I'll break if anything goes 'sideways.' And as for my early career failure, if I announce I'm a cop and call for backup that Sunday back in 2007, maybe Lt. Moran is still working for your new BFF Arthur Winston and Boothe's outed as some sort of predator."

"Boothe killed Corey Moran, you didn't," Kensi tried to reassure him. "And that guilt you feel about Corey Moran, that's the guilt Sam's walking around with when it comes to you and Sidorov. He thinks he failed you."

"Nobody failed me," Deeks sighed, tired of reliving some variation of this conversation that's been running for the last five months. "Sam was doing his job, I was doing mine. I had his back; I did what I could to make sure he didn't drown in that pool. I didn't do all I could for Corey Moran in 2007. I'm doing whatever it takes now."

x-x-x

Deeks walked into a very crowded boat shed just after 11:30AM. Sam, Callen, Kensi and Nell made up the NCIS contingent while the LAPD was represented by Matt Bernhart and Roger Bates. "Good morning all."

"You're late," Sam and Bates said at the same time.

"You two would make an excellent team," Deeks noted. "Construction on the I-10 and the uniform assigned to drive me here seemed to be unable to drive faster than 45-mph."

"Are you ready, Detective?" Nell asked, communications kit in hand.

"Let's do it," Deeks took off his blazer. His white Ralph Lauren button down shirt was opened at the collar. Nell made quick work of the small, top white button, replacing it was a button camera. "Is this the Hetty cam?" Deeks asked.

"Yes, Detective. We can toggle the lens as needed."

"What's a Hetty cam?" Matt asked.

"Tell you tomorrow when we're surfing," Deeks smiled.

Hetty walked through the interrogation room hallway and joined the group. "The Hetty cam is an improvement made on a surveillance camera. A technical specialist watching the feed is able move the camera lens up and down to compensate for any height issues the subject of the recording or the wearer of the camera presents. Good morning, Det. Deeks."

Deeks smiled, "Good morning, Hetty. Do you know Matthew?"

"Det. Bernhart was brought to my attention by Mr. Renko several years ago when we were short-handed. His work on the Salerno case was exemplary."

"You hear that," a smiling Matt said to Deeks in a stage whisper, "I'm exemplary."

"I've often thought of making an example out of you," Bates growled.

"I'm sorry I was running behind but I got the most fascinating call just as I was about to leave my office," Hetty shared.

"This can't be good," Nell whispered as she handed Deeks his earwig.

"Miss Miller from the FBI invited me to a last minute lunch at Providence."

"Do they even do lunch?" Matt asked. As every pair of eyes, except Deeks's, turned to Matt, he shrugged and told them, "My mother insists on a monthly dinner with me. Providence is one of her favorites."

"They have lunch on Fridays. Miss Miller and I are breaking bread at one. And Det. Bernhart, if you haven't had the spot prawns, you're missing out," Hetty suggested.

Deeks chuckled and Matt smiled both enjoying Hetty's restaurant tips. The NCIS staffers were a bit more nonplussed.

"Do you think she's been told to make nice, Hetty?" Kensi asked.

"No, I do not."

"She's up to something," Bates told the room.

"I agree," Hetty nodded. "And since Providence is about an hour from where Sebastian Boothe lives and probably thirty minutes from your temporary office Det. Deeks, she may be creating a diversion."

"Probably at Boothe's place since I wasn't invited," Bates said.

"Mr. Callen, what is the status of the surveillance at Mr. Boothe's home?"

"Along with the traffic cams, there are surveillance cameras around the estate on public property that will track Boothe's comings and goings and any guests visiting Boothe. As part of his parole, his vehicles will all have GPS units."

As Nell finished with Deeks's button camera, she told the group, "Lynn Minor, Boothe's parole officer, was there are at nine this morning. According to the report she filed just before I drove over, Minor found Boothe's home compliant with all the terms of his parole. He currently has a live-in housekeeper and a live-in cook, a husband and wife team. Li and Yun Haung have been American citizens since the late 1990's and not a parking ticket between them. While they were food shopping yesterday, Sam put a GPS unit in their car. Two men arrived in a Mercedes S550 but we did not capture their license plate before it turned on the driveway."

"We really need to get this show on the road if Hetty's going to get to lunch and I'm going to ruin Boothe's," Deeks stood and put his blazer back on.

"I need to talk to my detectives before this begins. If we could have the room," Bates looked to Hetty.

"Of course. Nell, no audio or video until you see Det. Deeks outside of the building. Detective, after your meeting with Sebastian Boothe and when you've debriefed Lt. Bates and Miss Blye, I'd like a call."

"Not a problem."

"Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna, Miss Blye," Hetty turned to her agents, "follow Det. Deeks's lead. Do you have a safety word, Detective?"

"Noodles," Deeks answered in a serious tone but with a big smile. The NCIS agents all rolled their eyes.

"Miss Jones, please return to your desk and provide my phone with in-time updates while Miss Miller believes she's getting one over on me. If there is any emergency, I am to be contacted immediately."

"Of course," Nell said. "Det. Bernhart, Lt. Bates, very nice meeting you." Turning to Deeks she said, "be careful Deeks."

Deeks nodded and smiled, "Thanks Nell."

"Det. Deeks, you were missed this summer. Please come back to us in one piece."

"That's the plan, Hetty. Enjoy the food at Providence since I think you'll find the company lacking."

"Oh, Miss Miller should be a delightful lunch companion. She just doesn't know that yet. Det. Deeks, if I don't hear from you by three, I will start making calls. The same for you Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna and Miss Blye." Hetty left the room with Nell following closely.

"We'll be waiting for you two outside," Sam said to Deeks and Matt as he Callen and Kensi left.

Once alone with his detectives, Bates said "Deeks, you don't have to do this. We can get Bernhart into Boothe's house as a pool cleaner."

"Hey, I scream gardener material," Matt feigned outrage.

"You'd probably smoke the fertilizer. I'll take a chance that you're not dumb enough to ingest the chlorine tablets," Bates shook his head before turning his attention back to Deeks. "You did nothing wrong back in 2007. You maintained your cover, you told your handler and your supervisor what you saw and we passed that on to the FBI. They dropped the ball."

"I'm picking it up. I'm fine. If we're done here, I need to hit the restroom before the ride up to Sea Lane Drive. Somehow after our intros, I guessing Boothe won't let me use his bathroom."

Bates wagged his finger at Deeks. "Don't get yourself killed kid, I just got you back."

"Talk to you outside," Matt said to Deeks as he walked to the exit with Bates.

After using the head, Deeks made his way to the exit before hearing, "Detective, a moment."

He was surprised to see Hetty sitting on the couch and yet wasn't. "Aren't you going to be late for lunch?"

"I think they'll hold the table."

"If you're going to tell me that I don't have to see Boothe, that the past isn't my fault and that I have nothing to prove to the assembled masses here today, I've heard it from Kensi and Bates and Matt's probably got a speech prepared too."

"No, Mr. Deeks. While I don't think Lt. Bates or Miss Blye underestimates your abilities, I don't think they appreciate one of your greatest assets."

"Pretty face, charming personality and devastating wit?"

Hetty suppressed a smile. "Your resolve. I could tell from your first report about Lt. Moran that you were going to see this through. And you will."

"Thank you, that means a lot."

"But Mr. Deeks, you mean a great deal to your teams at LAPD and NCIS. Do not allow your resolve to override your common sense. Every person in this room today, plus Mr. Beale and Sgt. Ramos want you safe."

"Head before heart, got it." Deeks started to walk away. "Oh, by the way," Deeks turned back to Hetty. Bending over, he pulled a thumb-drive out of his boot. "Lt. Bates wanted me to write a manual on being a liaison officer. I figured you probably would need to see it and make changes before I turn it in."

"Lt. Bates mentioned this to me. I thought I'd see it just as the case ended at best. I must say I'm impressed, Mr. Deeks."

"Read it first, then decide if you're impressed," Deeks said, smiling. "And thanks for remembering the detective title. Bates is still a little touchy."

"He's just worried about you."

"Can I ask you a question though?"

"Of course."

"Why aren't I Det. Deeks all the time? It is Lt. Bates, Sgt. Ramos, Det. Bernhart but most of the time I'm Mr. Deeks. I like it but I'm confused."

Hetty seemed surprised by the question. "Det. Bernhart is an excellent undercover officer for the LAPD. Lt. Bates and Sgt. Ramos are highly decorated and well respected members of the force. One of these days Mr. Deeks, I'd like you to be a former undercover officer and respected member of the LAPD and an agent with NCIS." Hetty stood. "The others are waiting."

Deeks made his way to the door just as Matt was coming back in. "Started to worry you fell in."

"No, last minute pep talk from Hetty. You here to tell me how I don't have to do this and how I'm still a recovering from last spring?"

"No, my brother. I'm here to tell you it's time to nail this son of a bitch into the ground," Matt told him.

x-x-x

In hindsight, the surveillance van made to look like a caterer's truck carrying Sam, Callen and Bates along with Kensi and Matt in her NCIS SUV should have left when Deeks wanted to use the bathroom. On the motorcycle, Deeks found himself pulling over to the side of the road as he waited for the other vehicles to keep up. While this was an annoyance traveling now, it would make any tail by Boothe nearly impossible.

Once the caravan arrived on Sea Lane Drive, Kensi was able to park near the house, Sam pulled the truck into a nearby driveway of a vacant home. Deeks left the motorcycle under some trees by Boothe's home and started walking up the driveway.

In his earwig, Deeks heard "Don't do anything stupid" as advice from Sam. "Showtime," was Deeks's reply as he rang the doorbell.

A Japanese woman about fifty opened the door. "May I help you?" she asked.

"Is Sebastian Boothe available? I'd like to say hello."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Boothe isn't seeing visitors at this time. He's just returned home after a long time away. Do you have a business card I could pass along to him once he has time?"

"If I wouldn't be a bother, could you tell him Marty stopped by? I'll wait. I have a feeling he may want to see me. In fact, I'm sure of it."

The woman nodded. "Please wait there," she pointed to his feet before closing and locking the front door.

"Oh Deeks, you've got a way with the ladies," Callen said.

"She's probably calling 911 as we speak," Sam added.

Imitating a woman's voice, Matt joined in, "Help, help, there's a throwback hippie freak on my front step and I don't know what to do."

"Really Matthew? Really?" Deeks feigned outrage. "I'm not feeling the Department love here."

"You never felt the Department love, Martin," Matt replied just as the door re-opened.

"I'm sorry, please come in. Mr. Boothe will be with you in a moment," the woman led Deeks into the living area. Again, the room was simply decorated with white furniture and glass accents, making the twenty foot floor to ceiling windows and the ocean view even more spectacular.

"Marty!" Sebastian Boothe breezed into the room from outside. "It is such a relief to see you." Boothe looked largely the same to Deeks, maybe a little more muscular but for a man coming out of six years of prison, he obviously didn't spend all his time working out in the yard. "You cut your hair, it looks so different. You look so different."

Boothe extended his right hand. Deeks decided to shake it and was surprised to be pulled into a hug. "Sebastian," was all he could think to say. An excited Sebastian Boothe was not what he thought he'd find.

"I'm having lunch outside with several associates. I want you to meet them. You need to talk to them," Boothe lead Deeks to the area by the pool.

"Deeks, you don't start talking and we're going in to get you," Bates told him.

"Who are your associates?" Deeks asked as he walked out to the pool area. In a covered area, two men in suits, both in their early forties, sat at a dining table looking like they were enjoying a working lunch.

"Running facial rec," Eric told Deeks.

"Michael Hudson, Jason Keller, look who's here," Boothe started as a way of an introduction. "This is Edward Martin, Marty."

Both men stood suddenly. "Mr. Martin," Michael Hudson said as he extended his hand, "you're a difficult man to find."

Deeks shook his hand. "Not without reason. Mr. Keller," Deeks shook Keller's hand before turning to Boothe. "I didn't know you had company, I'll come back in a few hours."

"They are who they say they are. Hudson and Keller are partners at Dalton, Andrews. Hudson is their top criminal litigator, Keller area of expertise is setting up foundations, trusts and charities," Eric told him.

"No, Mr. Martin, please sit down," Hudson pointed to the seat across from him. Keller sat just to Hudson's left while Boothe sat to his right at the head of the table.

"Marty, we have been looking all over for you. Would you like some lunch?"

Deeks shook his head no. "No thank you, I'm good."

"Mr. Martin may want to speak with legal counsel before you continue, Mr. Boothe," Keller advised his client.

"I'm a lawyer so I'm still good."

Both Hudson and Keller looked surprised, Boothe was delighted. "That's where you've been! I asked Michael's and Jason's firm to find you but I told them you were a bar owner. It never dawned on me you would have switched careers."

"No, I was an attorney when I was running the bar."

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you got to school, Mr. Martin?"

Usually he hated the undercover reveal but when he walked up the driveway, he thought telling Boothe would be fun. The lawyers were changing that dynamic. "Just ten minutes from here."

"Pepperdine?" Keller asked. When Deeks nodded he said, "Did you find Shapiro's constitutional law class as dull as I did?"

"Shapiro taught contracts, really didn't teach them, more inflicted them on the poor 1L's. But if you got out of that class, you were probably going to survive your time there. He retired about two years ago. Jack O'Donnell taught constitutional law when I was there," Deeks told him.

"That was a test?" Boothe asked his lawyer. "Why wouldn't you believe Marty is an attorney?"

Hudson leaned forward to look directly at Deeks. "Mr. Boothe, at your request we've been searching for Mr. Martin for nearly two months and nothing. No home address, no business licenses, no professional licenses, nothing. Now, he's an attorney. Who are you really, Mr. Martin?" Hudson demanded.

Deeks put his hand up and slowly moved it to his blazer breast pocket. He pulled out his badge. "Det. Marty Deeks, LAPD."

Hudson leaned back in scrubbing his face with his hand. "A cop."

"Marty?" Boothe was confused.

"Boogie's was supposed to be a yearlong undercover operation. City inspectors looking for bribes, illegal business practices among the vendors, another way to look at the drug business. The undercover operation got cut short when I got, well, cut."

"Don't say anything, Mr. Boothe." Hudson told his client.

"I wouldn't know what to say." Boothe's exuberant demeanor was gone.

"I heard through the grapevine that you had Steve Johnson looking for me. I wasn't really planning on contacting Mr. Boothe but I have too much respect for Johnson to make it look like he failed at an assignment," Deeks told the three men.

"Who's Steve Johnson?" Boothe asked.

"Firm investigator," Hudson answered quickly before turning to Deeks. Picking up the legal pad next to his wrap sandwich, Hudson flipped to a fresh page. "Det. Deeks, is that with two 'e''s?"

"D-e-e-k-s, first name Martin, middle name Andrew. Detective III. Badge number 4417, California law license 284-1346-1175-04. DOB is January 8, 1979. Feel free to have Steve Johnson contact me. We never worked together, I never worked in the gang unit, but everyone I know says he was a good cop and a better man."

"So is this official police business?" Boothe was beginning to look nervous.

"I heard you had your visit from your parole officer." Deeks tucked his badge back in his pocket.

"That should be confidential," Boothe was shocked.

"Nothing about your interactions with your parole officer or any member of the LAPD is confidential. That is part of your probation agreement," Deeks told Boothe.

Boothe turned to Hudson, who nodded slightly. "Do you plan to make to make Mr. Boothe's parole a personal project, Detective?" Hudson asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Det. Deeks, we're all skirting around the fact that in a moment of extreme folly, Mr. Boothe lost control and injured you. In hindsight, it makes sense that there was no lawsuit filed against Mr. Boothe for his actions that day, though why the D.A.'s Office was willing to take our plea deal gets more interesting by the moment," Hudson said

"I was an undercover officer with a number of cases going. To protect my cover and to guarantee your client would do some time, the D.A.'s Office took the deal. They didn't need another OJ; I didn't need the press attention."

"Yet here you are, blowing your cover," Boothe looked genuinely perplexed.

"Since I'm driving a desk at the PAB, not a lot of cover to be blown."

"You're no longer an undercover detective?" Keller joined the conversation.

"Liaison officer to a federal agency. My days are full of FISA warrant requests and coordinating the Department's investigations with NCIS."

"NCIS?" Boothe asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"The Naval Criminal Investigative Service. They investigate crimes committed by or against Navy and Marine personnel and their families. If a Marine corporal from Camp Pendleton is selling stolen weapons to street gangs in South Central or a Naval Officer is murdered say here in Malibu, those would all be NCIS investigations," Deeks looked right at Boothe, seeing an empty lounge chair near the pool just behind his suspect. "LAPD, of course, has their own interests in illegal gun sales and murders."

Boothe grew tense. Gone was the host who was confused by his guest but basking in his newly found freedom. "I didn't know there was a department just for something like that."

"It is the federal government. There's a department for everything, am I right, Mr. Keller, Mr. Hudson?"

Both men eyed Deeks with some caution but nodded their heads. Hudson asked, "So, is your visit here official police business?"

"No, I told you I have too much respect for what Steve Johnson has done to let your firm think he's not doing a good job. Mr. Boothe did his time. As long as he doesn't repeat his act of folly, as you so artfully phrased it Mr. Hudson, and isn't a suspect in any other crime, I have a desk full of evidence requests to coordinate and bad guys to catch." Deeks stood and shook Hudson's and Keller's hands before turning to Boothe. "Enjoy your freedom, Mr. Boothe." Deeks shook his hand. "I'll show myself out." Deeks turned on his heel and left.

Deeks walked down the driveway, figuring security cameras were following him. As he got to his bike, he picked up his helmet. "Matthew, can you stay here and watch Boothe."

"Sure," Matt answered. "You OK?"

"Good, I just have a bad feeling about Boothe's reaction."

"What do you mean, kid?" Bates asked

"Can I meet the rest of you at my new office in like 45-minutes? Nell, Eric, will here be a problem if I give Kensi the recording equipment to return to you guys?"

"Sure," he heard in unison.

"I'll meet you all in the new office," Deeks told them before pocketing the button camera and earwig. He then vomited next to his bike.

x-x-x

Deeks got off the elevator carrying a Robeks's Replenisher juice. Kensi was standing in the hall outside his office, concerned and unhappy. "Sam and Callen are parking the van," she told him.

"I thought Hetty had the retinal scanner programmed to let you in."

"She did," Bates told him as him as Deeks walked into the office suite. "I was on the phone. Bernhart is on his way over, I sent Hixon to sit in a less noticeable vehicle."

"A Caddy SUV isn't all that out of place in Malibu," Deeks noted.

"A landscaping truck is better," Bates replied. "You want to tell me what was going on there?"

"I'd like to hear that too," Callen walked into the office with Sam. "From what I thought you were planning, you were going in there to rub the fact that you know he killed Moran in his face."

Deeks left the secretary area and went into his actual office with the others following. Plopping down behind his desk, he told them, "The lawyers being there changed how I could approach it. If I went in hot, the lawyers, especially Hudson, would have been thrown me out. Played it down, made it about clearing up a misconception and looking out for Steve Johnson."

Sitting across from Deeks, Kensi nodded. "But you still got across that you would be interested in Boothe if he was under investigation for another crime," Kensi began to understand his approach.

"Boothe knows what he did. The lawyers probably don't."

"That's fine Deeks, but you got quiet a couple of times," Bates pushed but not harshly. "You never get quiet."

"It was weird being there. The last time I saw that pool area, that view, there was a grown man tied to a lounge chair probably in the last hours of his life." Deeks fished the earwig and button camera out of his blazer pocket and handed them to Kensi. "And then Boothe was so excited to see me. Like he wasn't….well, what he is."

"You alright going forward with this?" Callen asked, concerned.

"Yes," Deeks was resolute. "Every minute Sebastian Boothe enjoys that pool, that view, that house is an offense to Corey Moran. I'm good." Deeks took along pull on his juice drink.

Bates's phone rang. He looked at it and announced "Dalton, Andrews and Reese" as he showed them the phone.

"That didn't take long," Sam told him.

"Kid, get your head on right and if it's not on right, get out. I'll be in my office if anyone needs me. I have a feeling Sebastian Boothe's lawyers will be earning their fees talking to me this afternoon."

As Bates left, Matt walked in. "Lawyers left about five minutes after you did. Bates called me in so I left when Tommy Hixon got there. You OK?"

Deeks nodded. "I'm good. Just odd to be greeted warmly by a guy who stabbed me the last time I saw him."

"I want to look into Dalton, Andrews and Reese," Callen announced. "Sam and I are going to drop over and see Hudson and Keller. Kens, go back to the office. Talk to Eric and Nell. I want to make sure your place in Malibu is secure."

"Hey, that's my job," Matt complained.

"Just a review, Matt," Sam told him. "You three have been living on the property for a week. I want to know if there is any vulnerability besides the beach access."

Matt grumbled but nodded in agreement.

Pointing to Deeks, Callen said "Call Hetty."

"Done."

The call to Hetty was informative. Andrea Miller was on her best behavior, explaining her concerns about bringing someone as legendary as Hetty into a series of homicides was a terrible waste of the woman's time. Miller pressed her belief that Deeks was someone who had issues with strong women in roles traditionally held by men. He and Hetty shared a good laugh at that, envisioning a conversation between Miller and Kensi.

Hetty also told him she was able to confirm that Andrea Miller has political plans. She's eyeing her mother's congressional seat as Teresa Miller looks to retire. A well-connected friend on the Hill said the Miller family was cleaning up any issues in Andrea's background. She now owns a house in her mother's district; she has started doing some local charity work. The one stain on her professional career was the reassignment after Sebastian Boothe's arrest and she was doing her best to scrub that clean.

Deeks figured Miller would drown him in bleach. Hetty agreed but told him a contact in the Bureau would keep his eye on the Assistant Director.

As he was packing up his laptop for the night, the front desk called to say Steve Johnson from Dalton, Andrews and Reese wanted to know if he could come up. Deeks agreed, rebooting the surveillance equipment so both LAPD and NCIS knew Johnson was there.

Steve Johnson was an African American in his late forties. He was about two inches shorter than Deeks but about the same weight - all muscle. When Deeks shook Johnson's hand, it was all he could do not to wince.

"You're a hard man to find, Detective."

"They keep moving me from office to office," Deeks told his guest. "In a month or two, NCIS will decide this place isn't secure enough and want me moved to some other undisclosed location. You former military?"

"No, but my brother is a Marine captain in Pendleton, MAG-39."

"Been there a few times as part of this assignment. Everyone there is remarkable."

"What exactly is this assignment, if you don't mind me asking?"

"On the record, LAPD kept running into problems in investigations with the FBI, ICE, NCIS - all the letters of the alphabet. I had a narcotics operation go sideways when NCIS entered the investigation. I lost the collar even though I saved the NCIS agent's ass when his cover was blown. LAPD was pissed I lost the collar, NCIS was annoyed their guy had to be rescued. Shotgun marriage had me working with them when I didn't have undercover assignments."

"Off the record?"

"The Department needs someone to yell at when NCIS bigfoots our cases, NCIS needs someone to yell out when LAPD actually has the nerve to do an investigation in their direction. I'm the man who makes them all feel better about themselves."

Johnson had a deep, hearty laugh. "How can you be doing undercover assignments if you're working here?"

"Got shot when I walked in on a convenience store robbery after jogging one morning. Once I was back on duty, NCIS only used me as needed."

"Was that how you got hurt last summer?"

Deeks was surprised Johnson knew. His new NCIS and LAPD bios left in the shooting but not the Sidorov case. "Yeah. Without going into specifics of the case, NCIS was short-handed. I got teamed up with this agent who had no use for me. He's former military, I'm a lowly cop. He gets made, I try to rescue him, get captured and get the ever living shit kicked out of me, pardon the language, and missed some time."

"No good deed goes unpunished," Johnson shook his head.

"I hope not. I heard you were looking for me and I had no interest hanging you out to dry with your firm so I met with Sebastian Boothe."

"Who stabbed you. Detective, I think I'm glad you're working indoors - you've had a stretch of rough luck."

"Waiting for all my good karma to kick in. And compared to you and what you did, it's been easy."

"It is a running joke with my brother. He's had three tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan and not a scratch on him. I get caught in a shootout half-a-mile from our childhood home and lose half my left leg."

Deeks shook his head sadly. Johnson was everything everyone said he was - a hero cop now working in the private sector. "Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Johnson?"

"Much like your trip to see Sebastian Boothe today, this isn't an official visit. If you were doing what you said, I'm grateful for your concern about my career. If you were there to scare Boothe, don't bother. He hired David Carter, the drug dealer, to be his muscle while he was locked up."

"Carter was in CMC?"

"Yeah. He got busted on some check forging scheme. He was sentenced to minimum security because it wasn't a violent crime and he has no adult record. His prior arrest was a teenage shoplifting charge nearly two decades ago."

"I wasn't there to scare Sebastian Boothe."

"Well, if you do scare him, Dalton, Andrews will replace David Carter as Boothe's muscle. They're ready to bury you in restraining orders, show cause court appearances and other legal means to keep you away from their client."

"As I told his lawyers, Boothe did his time. Unless he's guilty of something else, why would LAPD have any business with him?"

"Because I think you know exactly what he is, Detective," Johnson said. "And after an hour of checking you out, I know exactly the kind of cop you are." Johnson stood. "Take care of yourself, Detective. Seems they moved you inside to keep you safe. Stay indoors when you're dealing with Boothe."

-30-


	6. Authority

**6**. "All authority is assumed and if other people don't accept your authority then you don't have it. Perhaps the critical thing to being a convincing figure of authority is actually not to try too hard." - Patrick Stewart

 

While there was a lot about this undercover assignment Deeks disliked, a Malibu Sunday of surfing, swimming and now cornhole toss for money with Matthew wasn't too bad. Deeks was up about $25 when he first saw the boat parked well out in water.

"I'm assuming you're seeing what I'm seeing?" Matt said.

"And here I thought I was being paranoid."

"I'll skip the line about being paranoid and people still wanting to kill you," Matt said as he sank his last shot. "And the crowd goes wild. You stay here, I'll check and see if I can get a look at the boat and who's in it."

"Boothe's boats have GPS, right?"

"Part of the parole agreement. Martin, he's got a tracker on his mountain bike and the golf cart his household staff uses around the property." Matt fished his phone out of his shorts pocket. "I'm going to pretend to get a call, you can really play with your dog." He walked to the house.

Monty found cornhole fascinating. He never quite picked up on where and why the bags disappeared after flying through the air. Deeks pulled out a bright orange tennis ball he had in his Billabong hoodie and tossed it down the beach. Monty quickly took off, hell bent on keeping up his end of the dog-ball-owner compact.

Kensi, who spent most of the day on the patio reviewing one of Arthur Winston's scripts, found her way down to the beach. She wore a bikini top, yoga pants and a Winston Productions baseball cap as she wrapped herself around him. "Hello."

He kissed her. "Is it cheating to be kissing Hollywood Chloe when I'm involved with NCIS Kensi?" he joked, whispering in her ear.

"Well, cheating on NCIS Kensi would be a mistake since she's good with guns, knives and at hand to hand combat. Besides, Hollywood Chloe is a lot more work than NCIS Kensi," Kensi kissed him back. "Hollywood Chloe got her nails done yesterday. NCIS Kensi wanted to go to the range but wet nails and fear of chipping my manicure had me doing beach yoga instead."

"Ah, such a hard life," Deeks whispered in her ear. "How can I make it better?"

Monty returned with the ball, proud of his accomplishment. Kensi pulled away from Deeks and bent over to Monty. "I'm good. We're good, aren't we Monty?" she hugged the dog, took the ball and tossed it down the beach. Monty took off again.

"Did Matthew tell you what's going on?"

"Yep. That's why I'm participating in this little public display of affection." She put her arm around his waist.

"I'm very affectionate, public or private," he said as he ran his fingers lightly up her back. He enjoyed the small shiver he felt go through her. "I'd be happy to throw Matthew out of the house and prove just how privately affectionate I can be."

"Might be fun but probably not operationally sound." Kensi smiled before kissing the one spot between his jaw and ear that guaranteed a small shiver would run though him. "Let Matt find out who's out there first. If Boothe's started to follow you, I'm going to be right next to you."

"Kens..."

"Chloe, Detective Undercover Operative," she said as she smiled at him. "Chloe Farr, technical advisor to Winston Productions."

"OK, Chloe. But we've got Matthew, I'm sorry, Mac here, I'm in a secure building at work, I'm riding the bike everywhere. If that isn't Boothe, I've still got plenty of people following my every move who don't want to hurt me."

"Do you think that's Boothe out there?" Kensi asked.

"No, I know it's Boothe out there."

"Maybe not," Matt said as he joined them on the beach. Monty made it a foursome. It was Matt's turn to throw the ball, this time into the water.

"I do not need a wet dog, Matthew," Deeks complained.

"Might be the only thing in the ocean that cares about you. According to the GPS, Boothe's boats, the Closing Bell and Trust Fund Baby, are both docked at Del Ray Yacht Club," Matt told them. "I couldn't see a name or ID number for the boat. Did see her on-board, however." Matt handed Deeks his phone.

Deeks showed Kensi telephoto shot of a woman with long, black hair pulled into a loose pony tail, a floppy black straw hat and a bikini sunbathing on the boat. "That's a motor boat, anyway. Boothe has his father's yacht and his own cigarette boat," Kensi told the two.

"Still seems sketchy to me that of the places along the beach this woman could park her boat, she's outside Casa De Martin," Matt replied.

"House of Marty, cause we know how to party," Deeks mumbled as he watched Monty join them one more time. Deeks took a step back, pulling Kensi with him. Monty dropped the ball at Matt's feet just before he shook off the ocean water. Water that landed mostly on Matt.

"Monty!" Matt feigned indignation. Turning to Deeks, he complained, "Now I smell like wet dog."

"I lived with you for months. Believe me, wet dog would have been an improvement."

"Paul was a naturalist. He didn't like the harsh chemicals like those found in personal cleaning products. He preferred natural things."

"Like weed. And Paul had no problem with the chemicals that made up Pringles," Deeks teased.

"I was hungry. Speaking of which, you two are OK on your own for a few hours tonight? Mom has a fundraiser at the Peninsula that wraps up around six. She was going home after it ended but decided she didn't want to go to an empty house. We're going to have dinner at The Belvedere. Dad's in Sacramento, Frannie's with him. so..."

"Say hello for us," Deeks said with a smile.

"I'd invite you two, Mom loves Martin," Matt said to Kensi as an aside, "but she sounded like she just wanted some family time."

"You may want to shower before you leave. Wet dog, veal chateaubriand - not a great combination," Kensi suggested. "Oh, and we won't be around tomorrow night."

"We won't?" Deeks asked.

"I was about to tell you but we have dinner plans," Kensi told him.

"The breakdown of the communal dinner is the beginning of the end of our happy home. Our little family is drifting apart," Matt's tone was that of a heartbroken man but his smile and eyes danced with humor.

"The breakdown in me making you dinner is the beginning of the end of you eating reasonably. Tuesday night, dinner at Duke's. You, me and Chloe here, unless we're eating there tomorrow."

"Nope. Duke's is good."

Matt kissed Kensi on the cheek and pulled Deeks into a big hug. "Thank you. Family dinners saved the Gilmores."

"The Gilmores?" Kensi was confused.

Matt started up to the house. "Richard, Emily, Lorelai, Rory - 'The Gilmore Girls' - family dinners, they brought them together."

"You're insane," Deeks chuckled as he watched Matt wave as he walked through the house. Turning to Kensi, he asked, "Where are we going to dinner tomorrow night, dear?"

"Arthur Winston takes all his new staffers to dinner. Plus, he wants to meet you. He's sort of blown away by you running a bar and an undercover operation all on your own. He's a retired Marine, likes real cops, real military, not a Hollywood guy."

"But we're going to eat somewhere like Spago or The Ivy, right?"

"Nobu down the PCH."

"Yeah, not a Hollywood guy at all." Deeks rolled his eyes.

"He told me he enjoys everything he worked for and one of the things he's worked for is a standing reservation at Nobu here on Monday nights. Takes his wife and usually someone from the office. Tomorrow it's us."

"What time?"

"Eight."

"World-class sushi, a beautiful woman and a Hollywood guy. I've spent worse evenings."

Kensi bent over and picked up the cornhole boards. "Well, Matt's gone, Broncos-Colts started about ten minutes ago and I'm hungry. Feed me and if you're good, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck aren't the only ones who are going to score tonight." Kensi handed him the boards, kissed him and made her way back to the house.

No, there were definitely parts of this undercover operation that weren't too bad.

x-x-x

Since they were going out to dinner that night, Kensi dropped Deeks off at the PAB Monday morning before driving to work herself. Carrying his suit jacket with an appropriate tie in a dry cleaning bag, his laptop messenger bag, a thermos full of coffee and a no-meat breakfast burrito from the food truck by the office, Deeks walked up to the retinal scanner outside his PAB office and saw he had a guest. Hetty was on her phone, leaning on the unused secretary desk on the other side of the door. He looked at Hetty, looked at retinal scanner, five feet off the ground, and then looked at Hetty again. Shaking his head he just walked in.

Hetty held up her hand. "I understand. Yes, Mr. Deeks is right here, I'll discuss it with him. I should be in the office shortly." Hetty ended the call and looked up at him. "Good morning, Mr. Deeks."

"Good morning, Hetty," Deeks smiled at her as he went to unlock his office door. After hanging his jacket on the hook behind the door, Deeks told her, "I'd offer you tea or something but I don't have anything in the office but what I bring in. I would like to say that whatever I did to cause you to be here at 7AM, I'm sure I have a reasonable explanation." It felt odd as he offered her the guest chair in his office. He felt like she should be behind the desk.

As he sat at his desk, there was a Post-It note on his day calendar. "Checked for listening devices. All clean. MB" Deeks saw Matthew leave when he took Monty out for a walk. He thought he was doing his personal trainer thing. Obviously not.

"I got a phone call last night from a source inside the FBI. Miss Miller learned about your visit with Boothe on Friday. She will be in town later today, no doubt demanding a full debrief."

"No doubt,", Deeks found an unopened bottled water as he stored his laptop. Offering it to Hetty, he asked, "Do you want me to give her one?"

"Yes," Hetty told him as she waved off his beverage offer. She pulled a digital recorder from her handbag. "While this office is wired to record all conversations, as far as the FBI knows, you're on your own in this office. You can record your conversation with Miss Miller, write a report and e-mail it to me with the digital file. I'll forward it to the FBI just to keep all of our bases covered."

"Killing her with paperwork unkindness," Deeks paused. "I like it!"

"Making sure you are as covered as can be if Miss Miller decides to pull anything. The more I look into her future political plans, the more I am convinced you're her biggest concern going forward."

"And it should be Sebastian Boothe."

"It should, but to the world, Sebastian Boothe served his time and is working to become a valuable part of the community. You, on the other hand, could tell one of Miss Miller's political opponents what happened during the original Sebastian Boothe investigation. Her reassignment from the VCU to New York's White Collar Division, which her mother's political advisors are positioning as an attack on Wall Street's criminals after handling violent ones, would be revealed for what it truly was."

Deeks put the digital recorder in his top desk drawer. "How are things going? I know everyone is trying to keep Kensi and me in the loop but there's a difference between reading what's going on in a report and being a part of an investigation."

"Mr. Deeks, the Sebastian Boothe investigation is our top priority. Director Vance has always appreciated your commitment to the liaison position and after last spring..."

"Yeah," Deeks stopped her. Last spring was last spring. "Did you see my notes about the strange boat outside the house last night?"

"Yes, yours, Miss Blye's and Det. Bernhart's as well. While I understand putting you close to Sebastian Boothe and both residences on the Malibu undercover location are largely secure, Mr. Hanna's biggest concern about your cover house has been the beach access."

Deeks told her, "It does have its upside."

"Yes, I can imagine you're enjoying your time there. Were you able to locate Boothe when the boat appeared?"

"Boothe's Lincoln Navigator GPS had him at Salesian High School in Boyle Heights. I checked, he put together a group of elder care lawyers, accountants, financial planners, college application experts and was there most of the day in the gym helping people get their financial houses in order and helping the students apply to colleges. All pro bono. There were photos of him at the event. He's going to New Faith Baptist Church in Compton next Saturday to do the same thing. All a part of the rehabilitation tour." He shook his head.

"Mr. Deeks?"

"It's just..." Deeks restarted. "There wasn't much after my father was sent away. Well, there wasn't much before but there was a lot less with him gone. My mother did the best she could. She worked, I worked. I mean we weren't church people but someone just figuring out how I could get extra grant money or a paid internship during school - that would have made a real difference. Now I'm working to take that from people who could really use it."

"Mr. Deeks," Hetty warned. "You said over and over again as you were reviewing the case that Sebastian Boothe presents himself one way to the world and another way to his victims."

Deeks looked down and said, "Don't tell Kensi but I remember what he looked like when he came at me with the knife. It was like he was someone else. Someone possessed. Corey Moran, the others, that's was the last thing they ever saw."

"And that's why Mr. Hanna will be at the house today with a new camera to watch the ocean from your rooftop."

"I'll give Matthew a head's up." He showed Hetty the Post-It note. "He's searching for bugs."

"Like Mr. Hanna, Miss Blye, Mr. Callen and the rest, he's worried about your safety."

Deeks nodded, wishing for the thousandth time he was as worried about Corey Moran six years ago.

Hetty stood and Deeks walked her to his office door. "Oh," Hetty took a thumb drive out of her bag. "I was not expecting seventy-nine pages of a liaison manual."

"There is a lot of paperwork with this position." Deeks held the door as he and Hetty exited. "And I was bored."

"This is more than satisfactory. Please pass it along to Lt. Bates." She handed him the thumb drive.

Deeks noticed it was not the LAPD non-name thumb drive but something that looked like it belonged on a battlefield. Deeks pushed the elevator's down button. "Thanks for this and for stopping by."

As Hetty boarded the elevator, she said, "Mr. Deeks, please don't make me use that to introduce a new liaison officer in the future. You being bored means you're keeping yourself safe. Keep it up."

x-x-x

Deeks spent the morning e-mailing a member of NCIS's legal department and Eric trying to put together a weapons database that both NCIS and LAPD could use. He was tired of spending a half-hour every time there was an arrest to fill out a form for LAPD about confiscated weapons and then a different one for NCIS.

Grabbing a Greek yogurt and a bottled water from a convenience store nearby just after two, he was walking back into the PAB when the Desk Sergeant waved him over. "Hey Deeks," Sgt. Wetzel called, "someone's here to see you. They don't have an appointment and you weren't in your office." Sgt. Wetzel pointed to a woman standing in the building's waiting room, talking on her phone. It was Elizabeth Kelly.

"How long has she been here?"

"Not two minutes."

"When she gets off the call, log her in and send her up. Call me when she gets on the elevator."

"You got it."

Deeks hustled to his office and e-mailed both Nell and Lt. Bates's office. Just as he was finishing with them, Sgt. Wetzel called. He waited at his door for Elizabeth Kelly.

Her suit was a fitted black Armani, her bag was a black Birkin, her shoes Christian Lauboutins and her look was cool and professional. "Detective Deeks, I'm not sure if you remember me," she said as way of an introduction.

"You're Elizabeth Kelly. You're CEO of Boothe Financial and when we met, you were an up and comer at Boothe Financial and I was running Boogie's," he replied as he ushered her into his office. "I'm out of the bar business but your rise through the ranks has been remarkable."

"I must say," she told him as she sat in his guest chair, "I don't think I know what an undercover police officer should look like but I remember thinking at the time you seemed to be the perfect person to run that bar."

"That's why I was given the assignment. What can I do for you, Ms. Kelly? If I remember correctly, Boothe Financial is in Century City and traffic this time of the day would be a nightmare."

"I was attending a Women in Finance lunchtime seminar at the Palm when I realized how close I was to this building. I've never been in a police station before. Other than being interviewed after Sebastian's, Mr. Boothe's, arrest, I don't think I've ever spoken to the police."

Deeks smiled at her. "I'll be gentle, Ms. Kelly. Again, what can I do for you?"

She folded her hands in her lap and began. "I had dinner with Mr. Boothe Saturday night. He tried to put on a brave face but he frightened of you."

"Me?"

"Yes. He told me he's afraid you might be looking for revenge. That you lost your undercover career because of him."

"The reason I'm not working as an undercover cop anymore is because I got shot walking in on a convenience store heist where I use to jog. Wrong place, wrong time. Sebastian Boothe had nothing to do with that since, when they caught the robbers turned gunmen, they were two gang members. So unless Mr. Boothe joined the Southland Kings, he didn't cost me anything."

"There's also what he did to you. He said he could have killed you. He was never charged with assaulting a police officer."

"He took a deal. The DA's Office here didn't want another OJ, didn't want another Phil Spector. They can barely get Paris Hilton to do 30 days on a DUI. A man with Boothe Financial as his personal piggy bank, the DA's Office would have been at a real disadvantage. Besides, they probably would have screwed it up enough that I'd be in jail for running my neck into his lunch utensils."

Kelly gave him a small smile. "If our legal department wants to put together an agreement that states you have no further interest in pursuing Sebastian Boothe..."

Deeks put his hand up. "Mr. Boothe served his time for both attacking me and for that rather handsome stash of stolen items in his pool house. As long as he keeps to his parole agreement, I have no interest in him."

"You showed up at his house a day after he was let out of prison."

"He was looking for my undercover alias and using a hero former police officer to do it. If Steve Johnson wasn't doing the looking, I wouldn't have left the office Friday."

"Helping a fellow officer," Kelly nodded.

"Steve Johnson lost his leg when two kids under the age of ten were pinned down in a gang shootout. When he found out the kids' mother was killed in the crossfire and there was no father, Johnson and his wife adopted them. I wasn't helping a fellow officer, Ms. Kelly, I was doing the right thing for a hero. It was the least I could do."

Kelly was quiet for a minute. "So about that agreement..."

"Ms. Kelly, I'll tell you what I told Sebastian Boothe and his attorneys. Mr. Boothe served his time. As long as keeps out of trouble and isn't a suspect in any other crime, the LAPD and I have plenty of other criminals to apprehend," he repeated his undercover mantra. "And no, I'm not signing anything your legal department puts together. I'm sure the LAPD would forbid it and I don't like the implication that I'm incapable of doing my job and upholding the law."

"I met you that day a few years ago, Detective. You were quite capable of doing your job back then. I'm just concerned for Sebastian's, Mr. Boothe's future." She looked down at her folded hands. "The company had to withstand a number of investigations after his arrest even though he had almost nothing to do with our day to day business. Every government agency that could opened an investigation into Boothe Financial since the chairman was a violent thief. We were just coming out of some of the more onerous investigations when the markets crashed. Boothe Financial barely survived but we did and I'll be damned if I allow another full on assault on the company."

"Then Ms. Kelly, you probably should be talking to Sebastian Boothe and asking him to sign some document your legal department puts together."

x-x-x

At six, Nell sent an e-mail warning Deeks that Andrea Miller landed at LAX just after four. Since Miller had not turned on her cellphone, Nell was having a hard time tracking her. Deeks replied that sooner or later, she'd find him. He was right. Not ten minutes later, the afternoon Desk Sergeant, Frank Bradshaw, called to announce Andrea Miller was downstairs and demanding to see him

Deeks e-mailed Nell and Lt. Bates's office after telling Bradshaw to let her up. He opened the outer office door just as she walked off the elevator.

"Assistant Director, do you have an issue with calling for appointments for meetings? Early on a Sunday morning, after business hours on a Monday evening. Should I expect you on my doorstep at 2AM?"

"Since everything about you Detective now requires a national security clearance, I'm not allowed to know your address, your co-workers or your responsibilities," she told him as she walked into his office.

Deeks sat at his desk, pulling out the digital recorder. After clicking it on and placing it right in front of Miller, he said, "So good to know you spent two weeks getting nothing done. Then again, you're FBI, you're probably use to that. Why are you here?"

She eyed the digital recorder and frowned. "You know why I'm here."

"Actually, I don't and since I have dinner plans at Nobu tonight, please state your business so I can enjoy my meal."

"Dinner at Nobu? Nice step up from running a bar and sleeping in the attic over it. Actually, everything here is a nice step up from where you were working when we last met."

"The last time we met you dragged me out of bed at way too early o'clock for a surprise sunrise meeting. You're here after a long day looking for another surprise meeting. What do you want Assistant Director?"

Miller sighed. Once again, the meeting was not going her way. "You went to see Sebastian Boothe Friday. Why?"

"Boothe hired someone I respect to look for my undercover alias. I chose to make life easier for someone I respect even though everything about doing that has made life more annoying for me."

"Detective?"

"I got an earful from NCIS about approaching a convicted felon and discussing my liaison position. I got an earful from LAPD about approaching someone who injured me. I had the CEO from Boothe Financial contact me to voice her concerns about Sebastian Boothe and now I have you. Roger Bates threatened to suspend me over my visit to Boothe. In hindsight, I would have had a much better Monday if he did that."

"Because this is all about you, Detective," Miller said dismissively.

No, Deeks thought, it was about Corey Moran and the other others but she'd never get that. "Is there anything else you need, Assistant Director?"

"I want a full written report recounting your meeting with Sebastian Boothe."

"Talk to Roger Bates."

"I want to be told in advance about any other encounters you plan with Sebastian Boothe."

"Talk to Roger Bates," Deeks told her as his desk phone rang.

Answering, Deeks heard Sgt. Bradshaw again. "You running a harem up there? I got another good looking woman wanting to see you."

"Sergeant?" Deeks thought he knew who was downstairs.

"Chloe Farr is here to see you. Should I send her up?"

"Yes, send her up." Deeks hung up the phone.

"We're not done, Detective," Andrea Miller told him.

"Oh yeah, we are. Again, I have dinner plans and now have to advise both LAPD and NCIS you dropped by without an appointment so if you don't mind."

"I mind."

"I'll include that in my report to LAPD and NCIS. We're done." Deeks stood and walked to the door of his office. Through the glass door in the secretary area, he could see Kensi waving. "If you'll excuse me." Deeks opened the door and let Kensi in.

"Hey babe," she said, giving him a hug and a peck on the cheek, in full Chloe-mode. "You're not dressed and the boss is expecting us." Kensi was dressed for a fancy dinner in a red sheath dress and a black blazer. The look of her in that dress with high-heel boots was worth having to wear a tie in a few minutes.

"I have someone in the office who is just leaving. Sit tight," he said, smiling, pointing to a chair in the secretary's area. Deeks walked back into his office. "You have a good evening, Assistant Director."

Obviously annoyed, she stood. "I'll be speaking to Roger Bates."

"So will I. Hetty Lange too."

Miller flounced out of the office, pausing long enough to give Kensi the once over before leaving.

"What was that about?" Kensi asked as she moved into his office.

Deeks put his laptop and the digital recorder into his messenger bag. "Talk about it later. I want to go to dinner and enjoy expensive sushi on someone else's dime."

x-x-x

Dinner at Nobu was magnificent. Arthur Winston's regular table in nice weather was on the deck, overlooking the ocean. While Arthur Winston and his wife Janie told great behind the scenes stories about his hit series, Winston was really interested in Deeks. He owed one of the cable networks a series and thought an undercover cop who spent a year living someone's life could fill thirteen episodes.

Deeks tried to explain that while the occasional drug bust or fight might be exciting, his year running Boogie's included nursing a leaky industrial refrigerator, finding a kitchen employee who was reliable and could clean the grease trap and trying to decide if the restaurant area of the bar should be a cellphone-free zone.

The food was as amazing as the view. Winston insisted they enjoy the Chef's Choice, promising there wasn't a bad meal to be had. He was right, not a single thing was short of amazing.

As the dessert menus arrived, Janie and Kensi as Chloe excused themselves for a ladies room trip. While the women were away, Winston pitched Deeks on spending a few hours with two of his writers who would be running his cable show. "Just to pick your brain," he promised. Winston knew he and Kensi were working a case and wouldn't push things until after it was over but he was in awe of Kensi and wanted to hire her. "She took my pain in the ass leading lady to the gun range and ever since, Chelsea has been on her best behavior whenever Chloe is around."

Deeks laughed, seeing the ladies making their way back to the table. He joked that since he met Chloe, he was on his best behavior too. Once Kensi sat next to him, she passed Deeks her cellphone under the table. Deeks looked at the screen, seeing Sebastian Boothe eating sushi at a small table near the bar.

Deeks quietly passed the phone back to her and asked Arthur's guidance about desserts, planning on enjoying the end of the meal. A careful ride to the undercover house when they were done would lead to several long conversations with Matthew, Bates, Callen and Hetty. He wanted something good before going back to work.

Tuesday morning, Deeks took his bike to the PAB. He and Kensi spent two hours Monday night updating LAPD and NCIS personnel about Boothe's surprise dinner appearance. Leaving Nobu, Deeks decided to not see Boothe, chatting up Janie Winston as they walked through the restaurant while holding Kensi/Chloe's hand. Kensi recorded Boothe's reaction to their departure with her cellphone tucked into an exterior pocket of her handbag.

Walking up to the retinal scanner outside his office, Deeks balanced his helmet, messenger bag, a thermos full of coffee and a no-meat breakfast burrito from the food truck by the office. He dropped the helmet when a hand clamped over his mouth and a voice whispered in his ear.

"Not a sound."

-30-

Hey - no cliffhanger last week. Needed to make up for that.


	7. Worst Things

**7**. "Many things are not as they seem: the worst things in life never are." - Jim Butcher, "White Night"

 

Deeks reared back, slamming the man holding him into the office wall. With the assailant's grip loosened, Deeks whirled around, planning to use his thermos as a weapon. Matt putting his hands up stopped Deeks in his tracks.

"Be quiet," Matt whispered.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Deeks whispered back, though the reason he was whispering was beyond him. "You're out of your mind."

"Go into your office and don't say a word," Matt bent over, picked up Deeks's helmet and moved to the office door, waiting for Deeks to let him in.

"Lunatic," Deeks whispered as he looked into the retinal scanner. When the door clicked open, Matt walked into the secretary's area with Deeks behind him. Once in Deeks's office, Matt put the helmet down on the desk and pointed to Deeks to put the thermos and breakfast down.

Deeks wanted to strangle Matt with his messenger bag strap but recognized his friend was in full professional-operational mode. Something was up. With everything on the desk, Matt pulled Deeks to the guest chair and had him look under the front lip of the desk. There, he found the reason Matt was behaving as he was - a listening device.

Matt pulled Deeks back to his desk chair and pushed him to sit. Motioning for him to wait, Matt pulled out his phone and left the room. Ten seconds later, Deeks's desk phone rang.

"Marty Deeks."

"I don't like it when you play rough, Martin. You're bigger than I am and I bruise easily. Pretend I'm Bates."

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" Deeks rolled his eyes.

Imitating Bates, Matt starts, "Well, first you can apologize to Bernhart for your gruff greeting when he saved your ass this morning. He's a sensitive soul who treasures your friendship." Slipping back into his own voice, Matt told him "Then you can say something like 'I'll be right over' before you hang up and leave. Take your helmet with you."

"I'll be right over," Deeks sighed, picked up his helmet and left.

Matt, looking rather satisfied, walked with Deeks in silence to the elevator. Once in the elevator car, Matt said, "I called Bates and Agent Hanna when I found the bug. We're all having a big meeting at Bates's office. And I'm sorry if I scared you."

"Not scared," Deeks said, somewhat truthfully, "more startled. I understand why you wanted me quiet but seriously, Matthew, don't jump people who had dinner near a serial killer."

"But I bet it was totally worth it for the King Crab tempura. God, I love Nobu," Matt sighed. "Anyway, Bates is sending a black and white for me. You take the bike over in case your dinner non-companion is in the mood for his morning stalking."

"Took the scenic route this morning. Didn't see him."

"Called your logistic guy Eric."

"NCIS's logistics guy. You call him mine in front of Bates and we'll both be back in uniform writing parking tickets."

"Sorry, called NCIS's computer whiz Eric," Matt made a face as they got off the elevator. "He said all of Boothe's cars were at the Sea Lane Drive house this morning."

"He took the Mercedes SLS Coupe to Nobu, according to the tracking last night. Fit right in with what was in the parking area." Deeks stopped near the building's side entrance.

"I have a list of all the cars, including the one used by the household staff. All bright cars, all flashy cars, all lousy tail calls. Listen, you don't have to wait with me. Get to Bates. All the NCIS people are probably there and I can blame my tardiness on Bates and his black and white. I never get to blame things on other people. Let me enjoy the moment," Matt said, smiling.

Deeks shook his head as he shook Matt's hand and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks for looking out for me, my brother," Deeks said before he walked through the lobby and out the front door.

Matthew was not wrong about all the NCIS people being at Bates's office, Deeks thought as he walked in Hetty, Callen and Sam were givens. Nell was wearing blue coveralls, standing near the door while Kensi was on speakerphone because of a 6AM shoot at the Bob Hope Airport. "Are we trying to stuff as many humans into this office as possible or is this just a happy coincidence? Good morning all."

"Bernhart found a bug," Callen started.

Deeks nodded his head. "Has this room been checked?"

"Yes, did it as soon as Bernhart called this morning," Bates told him.

"Who was in your office yesterday besides the official visitors?" Sam asked.

"Were you there officially?" Deeks asked Hetty. When she nodded yes, he continued. "Mike the office mail guy; whoever cleans the place after I leave and Hetty, Elizabeth Kelly, Andrea Miller and Kensi."

"You have that many people every day?" Callen asked.

"No. Been rather lonely."

Bates made a face. "Do you think Andrea Miller planted the bug?"

"Does anyone not think Andrea Miller is behind the bug?" Deeks looked at the others.

"And there were no bugs there when I left Monday morning," Matt said as he breezed into the office. "Officer Chan is really wasting his time in law enforcement. NASCAR is looking for a man like him."

Bates made another face and Deeks felt like old times back with LAPD . "Did you check the houses?" Bates asked.

"Last night, once America's Sweethearts got back from Nobu, I went through my place and the grounds," Matt answered. "Clean."

"We checked the main house and the deck to the beach before we contacted any of you last night," Kensi said through the speakerphone. "Clean."

"Bugs aren't Boothe's style. He's more a show up in-person stalker," Deeks spoke from experience.

"Elizabeth Kelly?" Nell chimed in. "She was there."

"She was," Deeks was skeptical. "But she was concerned about Boothe's actions, about him making trouble for the firm. She was uncomfortable with the whole thing."

"Nerves about bugging the office?" Nell pressed

"A woman with a law degree, an MBA and who is the CEO of a company that almost went under when the chairman stabbed a cop isn't going to risk that company bugging a room," Deeks told her. "Boothe does something really atrocious, Boothe Financial is done and the same holds for her. She was covering her ass and her firm's ass. I filed a report after she left so she's on record being worried about Boothe."

"And if she wanted the room bugged to see if we were investigating Boothe, she'd have other ways to get the bug in without dirtying her hands," Matt added.

"Mr. Bernhart?"

"I did a year undercover with a consulting firm that really did corporate espionage. I'm sure Elizabeth Kelly would be able to find some outfit like that," Matt told Hetty.

"And what would your corporate espionage firm have done?" Callen asked.

"Put someone in with the cleaning crew. Buildings have been farming those duties out for years. I can clean carpets. Did it in college when, well, let's say sophomore year was spent on academic probation and cut off from the parental credit cards," Matt chuckled. "Anyway, Eunoia Consulting would send me to a cleaning service as someone to shampoo the carpets. Get placed in a building with the targeted company, move around a little furniture; plant a bug or a camera and clean the place. People come back to clean carpets the next morning. We'd always left a flyer reminding people that the carpets were just cleaned helpful tips to keep things stain-free. That way, nobody would really notice that a planter was moved just enough for the cameras to get a look at computer terminals or office safes. If you're Boothe Financial, you're not risking your CEO."

"Why do I think I'm never going to be out of a janitor's coveralls after this?" Deeks mumbled.

After Nell coughed, Deeks turned to her. "You get to climb telephone poles. Last time, I got to mop up the ER waiting room after a guy with a stomach virus proved he needed immediate attention."

Hetty's more authoritarian cough brought them back to the matter at hand. "If, as Mr. Bernhart believes, Miss Kelly is not responsible..."

"That leaves us with Andrea Miller," Kensi said.

"And I left her alone in the office for about a minute," Deeks told them.

"You what?" Bates was annoyed.

"Kensi was at the door. I let her in. She had the office to herself for as long as it took me to get the door."

"That's long enough to plant the bug," Callen was thinking aloud. "Nell, contact Eric and have him review the video of the office."

"One camera is trained on Deeks, looking at the desk," Nell said, pulling out her iPad. She opened a few screens and showed them the office. "The other is behind him but trained on the door. I don't know if there is a clear shot of what anyone is doing the other side of the Deeks's desk."

"Have Mr. Beale look at the video anyway," Hetty advised.

"I'm assuming we have a plan since Nell isn't exactly dressed for success," Deeks noted.

"Miss Jones is going into your office in her telecommunications worker role to check the phones, our joint task force cameras and microphones and to try to ascertain where the audio signal from the listening device is going."

"Okay."

"Did you say anything in the office yesterday that would blow your 'stuck in an office with a desk job' cover?" Sam asked.

"No. If it's Andrea Miller, all she heard was me pack up my bag and leave for dinner. If it was earlier in the day - I tried to negotiate a paperwork issue between LAPD and NCIS in the morning, met with Kelly and Miller, made a follow-up dentist appointment because it's been three months and I think Dr. Patton misses me. Kensi picked me up and we went right to dinner."

"We did talk about what happened in the car."

"Miss Blye, check your vehicle for any listening devices. If someone heard you review yesterday's happenings and with the stranger on the boat outside your cover house Sunday, I'm pulling you both from the case."

"If Elizabeth Kelly is nervous about Boothe Financial, maybe a visit from NCIS could shake her up a bit," Callen offered. "Go in saying we're looking out for our liaison officer. We want to protect him. See if she's open to helping out."

"We're leaving the bug there, right?" Deeks asked.

The replies were three "no's," from Callen, Sam and Hetty, an "absolutely not" from Kensi, an "are you nuts?" from Bates and an "absolutely" from Matt. Nell, it seems, abstained.

"Why would you leave the bug in place?" Kensi asked.

"I'm a desk-bound paper pusher. I'm filing for FISA warrants and helping find software that interfaces bug-free between NCIS and LAPD. We can confirm that to whoever is listening. I'm sure I can dream up some sort of paperwork issue between NCIS, LAPD and DHS about who is covering what in my salary. Keep the person listening bored to tears."

"What does that accomplish?" Bates asked.

"I fall off Andrea Miller's radar if she's the one planting the bug. Based on a couple of Sundays ago, she knows damn well I wasn't helping out on whatever she had planned."

"We could leave it and report the placement of the bug to DHS, FBI, NCIS and LAPD but to Lt. Bates and not you Detective. You'll look even more out of the loop," Nell thought aloud.

"And that way someone from DC could pressure Miller into admitting she placed the bug," Callen followed Nell's logic. "Smart."

"It would probably mean she'd be removed from the case," Nell added.

"Det. Deeks, please be careful returning to the office. Miss Jones should be there shortly. Perhaps you could listen to some music or news while she's working in the office."

"Cover the noise, done." Deeks looked at Nell and smiled. Turning back to Bates and Hetty, he asked, "Anything else?"

Gunfire came over the phone line. "Sorry, Air Marshall Sasha Stevens is fighting for the American way of life and USA Network behind me," Kensi offered as an apology. "We were able to talk her out of trying to stop a plane by jumping on the wing and wrestling it down on her own."

"Talk about that Hollywood stuff next time you two are in the car. You only talk work in the cover house, got that?" Bates ordered. "And you," he pointed to Bernhart, "good work this morning."

Matt beamed. "Thank you, sir."

"Friday morning, say we all reconvene here around 7AM. Are you going to be available for that, Agent Blye?"

"Yeah, Chelsea Carroll, who plays Sasha Stevens, is doing Letterman on Thursday so they're shutting down production after we finish here at the airport."

"Okay, we're good. Deeks, if you can stay behind for a minute, I'd like to talk to my detective."

As the others left, Kensi said she'd meet Deeks for lunch - give whoever was bugging Deeks an earful. Once alone with Bates, Deeks asked "What did I do now?"

"How are you holding up?"

"Fine. I'm living at the beach. I had dinner last night with a real Hollywood producer. I'm having lunch with my fake Hollywood girlfriend. Matthew's insane but looking out for me. LAPD has my back. Based on the attendance at this morning's little impromptu meeting, so does NCIS. Take Boothe and Miller out of the picture and I'm living the dream."

"Take Boothe and Miller out of the picture and you're back in your apartment, you'd have never met Arthur Winston and we won't even talk about how out of your league Agent Blye is. Bernhart would still be insane though."

Deeks chuckled. "True."

"You're doing okay, though." Bates was genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine. I'll be better when Boothe is back in jail and Andrea Miller is in Washington, where she belongs."

"Stay out of trouble. Bernhart has been doing some cross-searches with missing persons throughout California. Let's just say the six men the FBI have as official victims may add three or four based on the time Boothe's was at Stanford getting his MBA. Nothing from Durham when he was at Duke as an undergrad."

"And the women?"

"Matt's found one in Palo Alto. Her parents won't have her declared dead because every time they get close to letting go, an Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard or those three women in Cleveland return." Bates shook his head.

"I need to go. Don't want to leave Nell waiting at the PAB."

x-x-x

Deeks watched Nell leave the elevator and wondered what weighed more, Nell or the utility belt/helmet/tool bag/back pack she had. He held the door and helped her off with the backpack and helmet. She assembled what she needed in the secretary's area while Deeks sat at his desk, ESPN Radio's "The Herd" playing on his computer.

Watching Nell work was endlessly entertaining to Deeks. Like Kensi, her concentration level for the task at hand was through the roof. She had her tablet and a wand of some sort as she examined the device. Deeks's phone rang, startling them both.

"Marty Deeks," he answered as he turned down the computer speakers. Nell stopped what she was doing, staring at him.

"Detective Deeks, this is Michael Hudson."

"What can I do for you, Mr. Hudson." Deeks grabbed a legal pad from his desk. He scribbled "Michael Hudson. Boothe's lawyer" and showed it to Nell. When she nodded, Deeks wrote down the date and time before he started taking notes.

"I just got off the phone with a rather panicked Sebastian Boothe," Hudson started.

"Did he stab someone close by?" Deeks asked. "That's what he did the last time I saw him panicked."

"Steve Johnson told me you're known in the department for having a sense of humor so I'm going to figure that was a joke."

"Because getting stabbed is high comedy." Deeks sighed. "Since I'm assuming Mr. Boothe didn't stab anyone, is there some reason he's panicked and I'm somehow involved?"

"Where did you have dinner last night?"

Since he figured Boothe was paying Dalton, Andrews by the hour, Deeks decided run up the bill. "If Mr. Boothe is concerned I'm not eating well, tell him not to worry. I had a good dinner last night and currently am enjoying a no-meat breakfast burrito. Breakfast, as I'm sure you know, is the most important meal of the day." That earned a smile from Nell.

"Were you at Nobu in Malibu last night?"

"Where I was or wasn't last night, Mr. Hudson, is not a concern of Mr. Boothe or your firm. And if you have someone following me..."

"Mr. Boothe is worried you're following him. Frightened actually."

"Was Mr. Boothe at Nobu last night?"

"Yes, he was. And he said he saw you in the restaurant."

"With a friend. And my friend's boss, who invited us to have dinner with him, and the boss's wife. If Mr. Boothe was there, I didn't see him. I am currently living not far from Mr. Boothe's Sea Lane Drive residence so chances are I'll see him or he'll see me every now and again. So, again, I'll go back to what I told you and Mr. Boothe last Friday. Unless he's a suspect in another crime, I have no interest in Sebastian Boothe. Mr. Hudson, I don't know why you're wasting my time with this."

"Have a good day, Detective," Hudson told him. Deeks felt the attorney lacked a certain bit of sincerity.

Deeks hung up, looked at Nell and shrugged. She picked up her tablet, typed something and went back to work. When his cellphone chirped, he looked and saw a text message. "You'd have been a really good lawyer, Detective." showed up in his messages.

Nell was gone after about twenty minutes, leaving Deeks with four FISA warrant requests to be written for continuing NCIS investigations and a switch to KCRW - probably better than the person or persons listening deserved. He made a note to bring in his 'car to himself' CDs - little Kenny Loggins, a little Toto, maybe some Journey to round out the playlist.

Just before one, the desk sergeant called asking if he wanted Chloe Farr sent up. He agreed and waited for her at the door.

"Hey babe," Kensi as Chloe said, kissing him before strolling into his office. She wore a black sheer blouse, knee-length black skirt and red boots. "I'm finished with work until next Monday, how about taking a few days and playing hooky?"

Deeks looked at and smiled. Obviously, playing for the listening device, he told her "love to but I'm drowning in paper work..."

"Aww," Kensi whined, "all work and no play makes Marty a dull guy."

"Not all of us can be superstars like you, sugar bear. Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"Made reservations at Kendall's."

"We got dinner tonight at Duke's with Mac."

"I'll find room for it."

"I'm sure you will."

"By the way, clear your calendar for brunch, Sunday. Arthur wants to talk to you about some of your cases."

"Chloe, you know I don't like talking..."

"He's taking us to Geoffrey's," she told him. "I know you don't like talking shop but he thinks there is a real television series about a long term undercover cop."

"Who sits and shuffles papers all day. Thrilling."

"Please, Marty. Just give him a listen. I never thought I'd leave the Marines but Arthur is a great boss, the work is fun, nobody's going to try to kill you and the money is ridiculous."

"Duly noted," he told her. "Let's go."

The two enjoyed some general chit-chat walking to her Range Rover. Once in the vehicle, Kensi announced that there were no listening devices, "it's clean."

Pulling a crumpled Twix wrapper out of the passenger cup, "Clean, really?"

Kensi pulled into traffic. "Arthur really does want to talk to you. He loved you. Thought you were funny, loved that you went to law school, that you're..."

"Kensi, you do realize we're going back to our regular lives when this is over?"

"Oh, I know. It's just..."

"Yes," Deeks looked at her and lifted an eyebrow.

"After everything that happened to you earlier this year, after Boothe hurting you, don't you think maybe you deserve some downtime?"

"I had the entire summer off, remember?"

She smiled at him. "I remember. You catch Boothe, you could take a leave of absence, work with Arthur. Maybe get a little money and we could live..."

"You like the house," Deeks smiled.

"Maybe," Kensi sniffed. "Maybe, I like the company."

"You're leaving me for Matthew?" Deeks feigned heartbreak.

"Yes, I've decided to run off with the one LAPD detective who is more insane than you," Kensi was laughing. "And I'm suing for custody of Monty."

Lunch was public and fun with a little on the job flirting, hand-holding as well as some pretty good food. Back in the office, Deeks managed to plow through the day's paperwork. An e-mail from Nell confirmed what he thought - the listening device was generic, untraceable, readily available in spy shops and even eBay.

Last minute, Deeks decided to switch dinner from Duke's to barbecuing at the house. The call from Michael Hudson changed Deeks's mind about dinner at another Malibu restaurant. Instead, he grilled up some salmon with lemon, red potatoes and asparagus. The adventures of Matthews and Martin were replaced by tales of Kensi and Deeks, mismatched law enforcement partners turned something more. Matt smiled throughout.

Long after dinner, before going to bed, Matt sent a text saying that Boothe's Maybach 57 was at Chart House for dinner. Matt took a quick ride to the restaurant and saw Boothe leave with Michael Hudson and Elizabeth Kelly. The three drove off in separate cars. Matt was back in the guest house and calling it a night.

"Think Sam and Callen shook up Elizabeth Kelly?" Kensi asked after reading the text.

"She was worried when she spoke to me. Probably called Hudson when Sam and Callen showed up and Hudson called me. She's doing more ass covering."

"And Boothe?"

"Probably getting the lay of the land. See how loyal Elizabeth Kelly and Hudson are. If Steve Johnson told Hudson what he told me, Hudson may be covering his ass too. I need to talk to Hetty and Bates. See how far I can push Boothe, his probation officer, Elizabeth Kelly, even Hudson."

"Johnson said they'd tie you up in court."

"And maybe Boothe is afraid of being under oath. Tomorrow I'll check and see if he was ever in court before his arrest."

"You said he didn't have a record."

"Criminal record. I'm interested in who sued Boothe Financial. Was Sebastian Boothe ever deposed? Ever put his hand up and swear to tell the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth. God, more hours of paperwork tomorrow. Nell told me I'd have made a great lawyer today, this is exactly why I'm not a lawyer."

"Are you coming to bed, all this legal talk is making me sleepy."

Deeks looked at her and smiled. "Let me make sure everything's locked up and the alarms are set. Then maybe I can come up with something a little more exciting to talk about in bed."

"Promises, promises," she said as she walked up the steps. Deeks made quick work of setting the alarm and checking the locks.

It was just before 5AM when Monty started howling. "I'll get him," Deeks told a mostly sleeping Kensi.

Deeks slipped downstairs barefoot in a tee-shirt and pajama bottoms to find an agitated Monty. "What's wrong, boy?" Deeks asked. The dog started to the front door and actually hit into it. "Stay," Deeks told the dog before running upstairs. Kensi was sleeping so he grabbed his keys, gun, phone and Toms shoes.

As he put the leash on Monty, Deeks called Matt and hit speaker.

"Huh?"

"Matthew, can you see anyone outside the front gate?" Deeks asked as he opened the door. He had the leash and phone in his left hand, gun in his right. Monty started dragging Deeks to front gate.

"What? Hold on, I'll check."

"Monty's running to the gate, Matthew, I'm checking."

"No, stay there, I'll be out in a second."

"Tell that to my dog," Deeks said as he hung up. He pushed his phone into his pajama pocket next to his keys. He hooked Monty's leash around a small lemon tree near the gate. As he cracked open the front gate with his weapon drawn, Deeks saw three men in suits with their weapons drawn and a fourth with his iPhone being held up to a megaphone.

"Oh for God's sakes," Deeks lowered his gun. "Did you boys all graduate Quantico just to torture my dog for Assistant Director Miller?"

"Would you get in the car, please, Detective?"

"No, I'm going back to the house, calling LAPD, NCIS and probably the Humane Society on your guys. Maybe let PETA know so they can picket the FBI offices or show up at Andrea Miller's political rallies." Deeks turned to leave but Monty started wailing again.

"I can do this all morning, Detective," the FBI Agent with the megaphone told Deeks.

"Fine, could I at least put on a pair of pants?" Deeks asked as he started moving his feet.

"Now, Detective," a second FBI Agent walked up to him and relieved him of his gun. "Your phone, too." He put his hand out.

Deeks looked down, defeated. Kicking some dirt around, Deeks he handed the FBI Agent his phone. "I just got this phone," Deeks told the Fed, wondering where in the hell was Matthew. "Don't break it."

Deeks got into the car hoping the FBI wouldn't look down. As the car he was in pulled out, Deeks saw the front gate open again. He hoped Matthew or Kensi would see what he left them in the dirt - FBI written in big letters.

"Is this about the tire I shot out?" Deeks asked, making the decision to be the worst backseat passenger ever as they drove down the PCH. "Because I can go back to the house and write a check."

"Or you can be quiet, Detective," the driver told him.

Deeks loved a challenge. "So tell me, what was Quantico like? I've never been to Virginia but I've been to thirty seven other states. Washington State, Oregon, California, of course – I live here - New Mexico, Nevada, hey, have you guys been to Vegas..." He planned on making this a long ride.

x-x-x

Deeks sat in the FBI's Los Angeles Office interrogation room for about ten minutes before Andrea Miller walked in with a full head of steam.

"What do you have against me?" she said as she sat across the table from him.

"How long you got?"

"You know, I thought you were in over your head years ago but I thought you were an honorable man."

"Excuse me?"

"You were way out of your league but you looked like the typical 'I had a lousy childhood so I'm going to do good things in this world' cop."

"Funny, an IA cop once said something like that to me. He wound up in jail."

"Is that what you've got planned for me? Set me up and send me to jail?"

"First, everyone I've sent to jail broke the law. Second, you megalomaniac, I have nothing planned for you. Until you dragged me out of bed a couple of Sundays ago, I hadn't thought of you in years."

Miller tried to stare him down. "You're lying."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I was sound asleep when my dog freaked out. One of your evil minions was terrorizing him with an iPhone dog whistle and a bullhorn. I get dragged here in my pajamas. What is wrong with you? Do you have something about me getting a decent night sleep? Do you hate dogs?"

"You lied about me."

"About what? What the hell is going on here?"

The door to the interrogation room opened. "Assistant Director Miller, if you will," an older man signaled for her to leave.

As Miller stood to walk out, Hetty walked in carrying a small duffle bag. "Miss Miller, in the future if you want to speak with Det. Deeks, please put your request in writing to both my office and Lt. Bates's office. This morning's actions were outrageous and when I return to my office, I plan to have a long talk with Director Comey."

"He's telling lies about me," Miller said to Hetty as she started to leave. "Tell the Director about that."

Once they were alone, Deeks looked at Hetty. "I'm sorry about this."

"Detective, while I understand you were worried about your dog, it was foolish of you to leave the beach house without telling Miss Blye and it was equally foolish to open the front gate when Det. Bernhart expressly asked you to wait."

"I know, but ..."

"No buts, Mr. Deeks. Everyone is working around the clock on this operation. Det. Bernhart and Miss Blye are particularly invested in your safety. Both were quite upset when you were gone." Hetty handed him the duffle bag. "Your weapon, your phone and a pair of pants from your work go-bag."

"Thank you."

"The observation room has been cleared, the cameras are off. You can change in here and I'll drive you back to the beach house."

"Is that a good idea?"

"Had you not disappeared after Det. Bernhart asked you to wait, he could have told you that Sebastian Boothe's Porsche Cayenne left the Sea Lane Drive house not long after the FBI took you away."

"Where was he going?" Deeks asked as he took his gun, phone and pants out of the bag.

"Miss Blye checked the auto's mapping system. He's driving up to Santa Barbara. He just bought a $25 million Fernald Point estate last weekend. He told his parole officer the new home is closer to the CMC where he's working once a week for the next year as part of his release agreement. He also said he wanted a fresh start."

"Or someplace new to start killing people," Deeks told her. "Let me change and we'll..."

"Mr. Deeks, you change. I've sent Mr. Hanna and Mr. Callen to follow Boothe to his new home and to investigate his plans for it. While Santa Barbara is an expensive community, $25 million can buy you a great deal of privacy and property." Hetty left. Deeks quickly slipped out of his pajama bottoms and into his pants. He hooked his belt holster into place and checked his weapon.

Walking down the hall with Hetty as they exited, Deeks saw Andrea Miller behind a glass wall in the yelling into a speaker phone. "Good luck," he mumbled to the agents as he and Hetty walked to the elevator. It wasn't even 7AM - Andrea Miller, she ruins more people's days before breakfast than most people do during the rest of the day.

As Hetty turned from the I10 to the PCH, Deeks's phone rang. "Deeks, don't even go to the PAB this morning, you're to come right here once your partner's boss drops you back to the cover house," Bates told him.

"I'm sorry I left..."

"Don't be sorry, stop doing stupid things. Of you and Bernhart, I expect him to do stupid things. I expect you not to shut up. So you can come here and explain yourself, something you're good at. And tell Bernhart to answer his goddamn phone," Bates barked before hanging up.

Deeks looked at his phone and dialed Matt's cell. It rang three times before going to voicemail. A second call to the landline phone at the guest house also went to voicemail after several rings. He tried calling Kensi's cellphone but that just went straight to voicemail. His next call was to Eric.

"Hey Deeks."

"Eric, can you look inside the house?"

"Sure," Deeks heard Eric working the keyboard. "What am I looking for?"

"Kensi, Matthew, anyone."

Deeks heard Eric working the keyboard, "The house looks empty. I'm checking Det. Bernhart's place. Nothing there either. I can see Monty in the yard but no Kensi and no Det. Bernhart."

"Shit, can you call 911 and get someone there now?"

"On it." Eric said before disconnecting.

"Mr. Deeks?" Hetty was visibly concerned.

"Nobody's answering at the houses, Kensi's phone is going straight to voicemail and Eric can't see anyone on the grounds. Dammit."

"Mr. Deeks, we're almost there." Hetty changed lanes and tired to pick up some speed.

No, we're not, Deeks thought looking at the morning traffic. No, we're not.

-30-

Sorry for the evil cliffhanger last week. Sorry for the evil cliffhanger this week. I like cliffhangers.

Thanks for reading. We're in the home stretch, thanks for taking the ride with me.


	8. Damaged People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning** : A little more adult language and violent situations than usual.

**8.** "Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive." – Josephine Hart.

 

Before Hetty even stopped the car outside the Malibu undercover house, Deeks was off and running. He opened the front gate and started yelling "Matthew" and "Kensi" over and over again.

Opening the front door to the main house, Deeks saw Monty sitting outside of the patio door. Deeks walked out to find Matt slumped against patio wall, blood pouring from his gut.

"Matthew," Deeks gasped as he kneeled next to his friend. Taking off his tee-shirt, he pushed it into what was a nasty stab wound.

"Oh Martin, I fucked this up," Matt said weakly.

"Hold on," Deeks told Matt as he pulled out his phone with his left hand. The right was making sure Matt's insides stayed, well, inside. He hit speed dial for OPs Center and put the phone on speaker.

"What's going on, Deeks?" Eric asked.

"I need an ambulance at the cover house, now. And where the hell are LAPD?"

"There's a small plane that crashed into the water off the Santa Monica pier and a police shooting in Sherman Oaks. Add in rush hour and traffic is a horror show."

"I need an ambulance now. Bernhart has been stabbed and he's bleeding out."

"Let's not get hasty," Matt tried to joke, "it's just a glorified paper cut."

"Nell's calling it in right now, we can't see where you are in the house," Eric told Deeks.

"Matthew must be lying in a blind spot on the patio," Deeks said as Hetty joined him. She had several towels in her hand.

"He took her," Matt told Deeks.

"Boothe?"

"Yes. He had a picture of you on his tablet and said he had you. Kensi went with him to rescue you. He told her he knew about you being tortured and he planned to do it again if she didn't go quietly. I tried to stop her but," Matt looked down at his wound, "I really fucked this up."

"You did fine, Matthew. You need to be still. This is all my fault," Deeks assured Matt as Hetty kneeled on the other side of the injured man, suit jacket off and wearing rubber gloves. "Just hold on."

Hetty pushed her gloved hand and a towel over Deeks's tee-shirt. "Help is coming Det. Bernhart. Stay with us."

"I'm fine," Matt said. "Get your girl, Martin. Get her back."

"Mr. Deeks, have you had Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna stop Boothe's vehicle?"

"Eric, you still on the line?"

"Nell is on with them now. They just pulled the SUV over."

"Tell me when she's the hell away from Boothe."

"You got it."

"Martin, can you do me a favor?" Matt asked.

"No, I'm not deleting your internet cache before Bates gets here. You can explain your Taylor Swift obsession to him once you're on your feet," Deeks told him.

"My love for Taylor Swift needs no explanation," Matt told him. "Promise me you'll look out for my Mom."

"That's your job man. You two need each other. Who else is going to go to fancy restaurants with her and who else is going to feed you? I'm done cooking for you once Boothe is in custody."

"Deeks, are you there?" Eric's voice came over the speaker.

"What's up, and where the hell is the ambulance?"

"They're two minutes out. Deeks, Callen called. The Haungs, Boothe's household staff, were in the Porsche Cayenne. Boothe wasn't driving to Santa Barbara, they were. He sent them up there early this morning to set up his new house."

"He's at the Sea Lane Drive house," Matt whispered, growing weaker by the minute. "Working where he's comfortable. Get Kensi back."

"Deeks," Nell was now on the speakerphone, "a white van was seen pulling into Boothe's driveway about twenty minutes ago. It's not on the list of vehicles he owns,"

"Nell, he just kidnapped a federal agent," Deeks said as he finally heard the ambulance's siren closing in. "He's killed people. An unregistered vehicle is the least of his crimes."

"Go get her. She went to rescue you, dumbass," Matt told him.

"Hello?" a voice came from the back of the house. "EMS,"

"Back here!" Deeks yelled.

As the EMT, Chan according to the name on his uniform, walked onto the patio, he immediately kneeled down next to Deeks. "I have this sir," Chan said as he pushed his hand under Deeks's. "I've got this."

"Mr. Deeks, Miss Blye..."

"Stay with him," Deeks was already making his way to the patio door.

"Of course. And Mr. Deeks,"

"Yes, Hetty." Deeks made room for a second EMT, pushing a gurney.

"Be careful. He's had nearly six years to think about something like this."

"I will. And Hetty, call Roger Bates. Someone needs to contact Matthew's family."

"Oh, let's keep them out of this, shall we," Matt gasped as the second EMT tried to move him. "Just Mom and only after I'm settled."

Deeks raced into the house, grabbing a hoodie from the coat rack and Kensi's keys. "Eric, you still with me."

"What do you need?"

"Call LAPD, they don't need to come here."

"I've already rerouted them to the Sea Lane Drive address. But Deeks, they're still five to eight minutes out," Eric advised as Deeks ran to Kensi's Range Rover.

"I'm on my way there, now."

"Callen wants to talk to you,"

"Yeah, I don't want to talk to him," Deeks disconnected the line and drove away from the house. He was about half way to Boothe's when the phone rang again. He just let it go to voicemail.

As Deeks turned onto Sea Lane Drive, he called Eric back. "I'm about to go in, where's LAPD?"

"About seven minutes behind you," Eric told him. "Callen's not happy."

"Very few people are this morning," Deeks did not have time for Callen trying to run a rescue from sixty miles away.

"He and Sam want you to wait for LAPD."

"Boothe has Kensi. He took her because of me. LAPD is seven minutes out, which means ten and you know it. I'm going in," Deeks pulled up to the front gate. "Can you get the front gate opened? Otherwise I'm hopping the fence."

Deeks heard Eric's fingers flying over the keyboard. "It should be opened," Eric paused and Deeks saw the gate open just as Eric said "now."

"Deeks, Kensi should have an earwig in the console," Nell told him. "There's a false bottom."

Deeks pulled the SUV into driveway and shut off the ignition. He unlocked the console and found the earwig. "You with me," he asked as he disconnected the phone and turned on the earwig.

"We got you. Sam really doesn't want you going in," Nell said.

"Ask Sam if that was Callen or Michelle with Boothe, what would he be doing?"

"I think we'll skip asking that," Eric answered. "Deeks, LAPD is still seven minutes out."

"They're not coming fast enough," Deeks said more to himself as he went to the side of the main house. Climbing up the central air conditioner compressor unit, he jumped over the fence to the back side of the pool house. Weapon drawn, he walked alongside the pool house, seeing Boothe tying Kensi to a lounge chair. Just like Corey Moran.

"I have eyes on Kensi," he whispered. "Boothe has her."

"Don't..." Callen started, Eric or Nell obviously patching him in.

"...Get her away from a murdering psycho, no Callen, sorry."

"He's setting you up," Callen warned.

"Look, LAPD is too far away and Boothe's too close to her. He needs to be away from her. The sooner the better." Deeks moved closer to Boothe, noticing that Kensi was barely conscious. "Move away from her," he ordered, raising his weapon. "Now."

"Marty, you've joined our little party," Boothe was back in his happy host persona. "Hey, that rhymes." Boothe stood, scissors in his hand. "You should probably put the gun down. They make me nervous and you've seen what I do with sharp items when I'm nervous."

Deeks fired his weapon just past Boothe's ear. "Put the scissors down or I'll empty the clip into your chest."

Boothe seemed stunned and started to lower the scissors to the ground. Once Boothe placed the scissors on the ground, Deeks closed the distance between them. Kicking the scissors under the lounge chair, Deeks then swung his leg at Boothe's feet, knocking the man to the ground.

"Gonna cuff me Marty?" Boothe asked. "Not usually my scene but I'm open to new things. Especially with you and your girlfriend here."

"Crawl to the pool and get in," Deeks told him.

"I don't think so."

Deeks took a fist full of Boothe's hair and started pulling him to the pool. As the man screamed, Deeks let go. "Crawl to the pool and get in." Boothe crawled to toward the pool. "Once you're in the pool, swim to the middle and just stay there."

"I don't like this side of you, Marty. You'll pay for this," Boothe warned. As he got closer to the pool, Boothe tried to stand but Deeks yelled "crawl" and he did. "You'll pay and so will your girl."

When Booth got poolside, he sat and started to take off his shoes. "Keep the shoes on," Deeks told him as he sat next to Kensi.

"These are Martin Dingman crocodile shoes," Boothe complained.

"Crocodiles like water so they'll be right at home in your pool. Keep your shoes on," Deeks told him. After watching Boothe slip into the pool and make his way to the middle, Deeks turned his attention to Kensi. Grabbing the scissors from under the lounge chair, Deeks put his gun in holster and started tending to Kensi. He noticed her breathing was labored. "What did you do to her, Sebastian?"

"I didn't do anything to her, Marty. You know Hollywood bitches. They like to have their fun. Drugs, vodka, sex… "

As Boothe continued his monologue on Hollywood party girls, Deeks gently shook Kensi. "You with me, Kens? You there?"

"Does Kensi need medical assistance, Deeks?" Callen's voice was calm and reassuring on the earwig.

"Yes. She's not breathing right and while she's tied up, it shouldn't impact her breathing. I'm thinking he ruffied her."

"I've called for an ambulance," Nell advised. "Det. Bernhart was just airlifted to Los Robles."

Deeks noticed Boothe wasn't talking anymore. Standing quickly, he pulled his gun and saw Boothe moving to the pool's steps. "Get back in the middle of the pool. Now."

"You'll pay for this, I'll make you..."

"Hey baby, you ready for some fun?" Elizabeth Kelly asked, walking in from some hidden path up from the ocean. Her hair was tied up as she wore a short, white slip dress and black platform shoes with ankle straps - very non-CEO. "What the hell is this?" she asked as Deeks pointed his gun at her.

"What's going on Deeks?" Sam asked.

"Miss Kelly, really didn't expect to see you." Deeks heard Nell's gasp on the earwig. If they all survived, he'd buy Nell a drink - she was the one most suspicious of Kelly. "Join the chairman of the board in the pool."

"Absolutely not," she told him.

"You jump in the pool or I'll shoot our host and then I'll shoot you."

"I don't know how to swim."

"That's unfortunate. Jump in, make your way to Sebastian. I'm sure he'll lend you a helping hand."

She looked at him. "I had such plans for you. Boy toy bartender who was really a cop. You were in the service business and now you're a public servant. You could have been so much fun servicing and serving us."

"Still will be. He's not getting out of here. You can have your fun with him while I have a good time with Chloe," Boothe tried to bait him.

Deeks thought he heard the sirens in the distance. "In the pool, now. Keep your shoes on." Elizabeth Kelly did a near perfect dive into the pool despite the platform shoes and dress. She made her way to the middle of the pool with ease. So much for not being able to swim. "If I hear a sound like you're moving, you're both done, am I clear?" When he didn't get an answer, he saw exactly what he needed.

"Deeks, LAPD is five minutes out," Eric told him.

Walking over to the dining area, Deeks heard Elizabeth Kelly start again. "Does your girl bruise, Det. Deeks? Sebastian likes them best when they bruise. Loves to admire his handiwork."

"Shut your mouth," Deeks couldn't help himself as he started working behind the bar.

"Do you beat her? I've read where children of abuse often grow up to be abusers themselves."

"Is that your issue Elizabeth? Daddy a little fast with the hands? Or maybe his hand had other interests."

"That's enough," Sebastian Boothe ordered. "You don't get to speak to us that way."

"Oh, I do," he said as he walked back to the pool, carrying the bar refrigerator and a power strip. Placing the appliance down, he flipped open the electrical outlet cover by the pool and plugged in the power strip. Deeks pulled the strip to the pool's edge where he plugged in the small refrigerator. "One more word out of your mouths, either one of you, and, well, there's a shocking ending for both of you. If you think you can get out of the pool faster than I can push this in, good luck."

Deeks heard the sirens closing in. Walking back to Kensi, he noted her breathing was getting more labored. Ruffied, Deeks thought, probably mixed with the vodka from the bottle opened he saw by the bar. What a great morning- he probably got Matthew killed, got Kensi ruffied. He took the scissors and started cutting through the ropes.

"They won't believe you, you know," Boothe's voice was gentle. "Whore Hollywood girlfriend, troubled cop. We've been having an affair since I got out, you know. She was looking for a real man. You left her last night, she woke up alone. Stopped by for a quickie."

"It would be a quickie with you Sebastian, wouldn't it." Deeks called back.

"What hurt more Marty? Being beaten by your father or being tortured?" Kelly asked.

"Deeks, don't do anything stupid," Sam warned.

"I mean you were a kid when…." Deeks again blocked out Kelly while he continued to free Kensi. As Deeks cut the last rope holding Kensi to the chair, she started gasping for air. "Eric, where is the ambulance. Kensi's not breathing right. I think she was drugged."

"They're with the LAPD. And LAPD just arrived at the front gate."

"We're back here," Deeks called out. "Eric, they know I'm here with Kensi, right?"

"Yeah, they're looking for you and Kensi."

The door from the house to the pool opened and six SWAT officers walked out in formation.

"Oh thank God you're here, officers. He's gone crazy." Boothe told the SWAT team members as they closed in on the pool. "His girlfriend's been coming on to me since I've returned home. She fled here after a fight. He's violent. He's obsessed with me."

"You OK, Det. Deeks?" one of the SWAT officers - Ruiz, according to his nameplate - asked. "Lt. Bates filled me in."

"I'm fine. Agent Blye here needs medical attention now."

One of the other SWAT officers called for the EMTs to be brought in.

"Who is Agent Blye?" Elizabeth Kelly asked.

"Who's the girl in the pool, Deeks?" Ruiz asked while Kelly's question was ignored.

"Elizabeth Kelly. Seems Boothe had a partner in crime." Deeks saw the EMTs walk in. "Over here."

"Miss Kelly, slowly, make your way to the pool's stairs. Mr. Boothe, you remain right where you are,"

"No," she answered.

The EMTs started working on Kensi, freeing Deeks to deal with his suspects. "Get out of the pool Miss Kelly or I'll drag you out myself."

"You don't touch her," Boothe warned. "But I touched your girl."

"Are you confessing to assaulting a federal agent, Mr. Boothe?" Ruiz eyed Deeks.

"She's no federal agent. She's …"

"Special Agent Blye, NCIS. All a set-up Sebastian. You stabbed a cop back at an undercover house. This is a joint operation. NCIS and LAPD. And there won't be a deal this time," Deeks told Boothe. "And your girl is going down too."

"We need to get Agent Blye to the hospital," an EMT named Hamilton told Deeks. A second medic hustled to the door saying he was getting the gurney.

"Get out of the pool Miss Kelly. Now."

Elizabeth Kelly whispered something to Boothe as she started swimming to the pool steps. Coming out of the water, it became obvious she was wearing nothing under the white slip dress. "Like what you see, boys?" she asked as she slowly put her hands up. Shaking the water out of her shoes, she looks at Ruiz, Deeks and then started running to Kensi.

Deeks was able to grab Elizabeth Kelly from behind before she launched at Kensi. "Oh no, you don't." Deeks pushed her down to the ground. A small box cutter fell from her hand. "I don't have cuffs," he told the other officers.

"I do," Elizabeth Kelly purred.

"You're under arrest," SWAT officer Daniels told Kelly as he put handcuffs on her wrists. "You have the right to remain silent…."

As Kelly was having her rights read to her, Boothe was ordered out of the pool. Deeks showed the Ruiz the box cutter and suggested Boothe gave it to her in the water. While Boothe begged his case to LAPD, he was quickly handcuffed once out of the water. Two SWAT team members appeared with towels from the pool house, wrapping them around the suspects.

The EMT's lifted Kensi onto the gurney and started to wheel her away from the pool area. "I'm going with Kensi to the hospital," Deeks announced.

"Where are they taking them, Deeks?" Sam asked. "I'm going to drop Callen off there and take a look at the house."

"Where are they going?" Deeks asked Ruiz.

"Metro."

"NCIS wants to send someone in to talk to them."

"I'll tell Bates. You attend to your partner."

"Thanks man," Deeks shook Ruiz's hand. "Sam?"

"Yeah, Deeks."

"Elizabeth Kelly walked up from the beach and wasn't in her usual CEO gear. Where'd she come from?"

"I'll take a look around."

"Eric, can you see who lives in the houses around here?"

"We checked before you moved into the cover house. You have Jenny Ellis, the soap star on one side, some businesswoman on the other side."

"Check the whole area. Beach side of Sea Lane Drive. See where Kelly came from." Deeks saw the EMT's starting to shut the door to the ambulance. "I'm going with her," he told them.

x-x-x

In the Los Robles Hospital waiting room, Deeks sat silently while Bates and Hetty quietly negotiated who would interview Boothe and Kelly. Matt was in surgery while Kensi was being treated for possible drug and alcohol poisoning.

"Where's my son?" a woman's voice cried out in pain at the nurse's station. "Where is my son?"

A nurse walked up to a pair of well-dressed women. The woman in her late fifties was making demands while the much younger woman was trying to keep things calm. Deeks looked at Bates and said "I've got this," as he started to walk to the women. "Mrs. Bernhart, Frannie, do you remember me? Marty Deeks?" he asked.

"Of course," Mrs. Bernhart said. "You're Matt's friend. Where's my son? What happened? Who did this to him?"

"Why don't we go to the waiting area and I'll explain everything," Deeks said as he signaled to the nurse that everything was under control.

"I want to see my son," Mrs. Bernhart demanded as Deeks gently directed her to the waiting room sofa.

"He's in surgery right now," Deeks started.

"Just tell us what happened, Marty," Frannie said as she sat with her mother, patting the woman's arm.

"Matthew and I were working a case as part of a federal taskforce. He's been working a longer undercover operation and it was folded into an investigation I was working on. This morning, there was a threat to one of the undercover federal agents involved in the case. Matthew tried to stop a killer from abducting the agent. The killer had a knife and he cut Matthew. He's been in surgery for a while, we're waiting to hear from the doctors."

"Has the man who hurt Matt been arrested?" Frannie asked.

"He's in custody. Matthew was conscious when we found him and he was able to tell us everything we needed to know to not only capture the suspect but the other undercover operative was rescued too."

"My son's a hero," she tried to comfort herself.

"Your son's a hero every day, Mrs. Bernhart. And he wanted me to make sure you're alright so why don't I get you two some coffee or water or something."

"Sit with us Marty, please," Frannie urged. "Dad's chartering a flight from Sacramento and Luke's in New York."

"Of course." Deeks assured her. "I'll wait."

"I can't lose my son, Marty."

"You won't Mrs. Bernhart." God, he hoped that was true.

x-x-x

State Senator Chester Bernhart, Matt's father, arrived just as Kensi was being move to a room. Deeks was able to leave Bates with Matt's family while he looked after his partner. Kensi was in a semi-private room, sleeping off what was done to her. Hetty, carrying what Deeks thought was Kensi's medical records, stopped in before returning to the office. Ruben dropped by to say hello before sitting with Matt's family. He promised to keep Deeks informed on Matt's status. So far, no news on Matt while Kensi was out cold.

While waiting for the results of her blood work, the doctors told Deeks they thought Kensi was given rohypnol with alcohol. A quick sobriety test when they got her into the emergency room had her blowing a 0.14. She was given charcoal tablets and her oxygen intake was being monitored but so far, so good. Oh, the doctor told him, the rape kit came back negative.

It was after 3PM when the door opened. Deeks expected to see Ruben but Callen walked into the room. "How is she?" he asked, sitting next to him alongside Kensi's hospital.

"Unconscious. Hasn't moved since she got here." Deeks turned his attention back to Kensi.

"Let's go outside, we need to talk."

"No."

"Deeks," Callen sighed. "I know you're upset about what happened but I'm just going to take you downstairs for some lunch. We're not leaving the building."

"No, we're not."

"Deeks, she's probably not waking up in the next few hours."

"No."

"Look…"

"No, you look. Last spring, she wasn't there when I woke up."

"That's on me."

Deeks put his hand up. "I get why she wasn't there and it's not on you. It's on Sidorov. All of last spring is on Sidorov. I told her it wasn't a problem and it wasn't. She doesn't believe me. She's apologized constantly that she wasn't there. She thinks she failed me because she wasn't there. She thinks I'm putting on a good show when I tell her I understand why she wasn't there."

"So you're going to be here when she wakes up," Callen nodded his head.

"When Kensi's bothered by something, especially something that doesn't matter that much to me, means it would bother her if it happened to her. And she's plenty bothered."

"She was beside herself chasing Sidorov and not being with you."

"I got a glimpse of that this morning going between Kensi and Matthew. I have to figure out how to live with the fact that this was done to the two of them because of me."

"Now you know how Sam feels about you."

"I don't know why nobody believes me when I say the only person I blame is Sidorov." The two sat quietly for a few minutes. "Anyone talk to Boothe yet?"

"As soon as he got to Metro, he lawyered up. Michael Hudson is making noise about this all being a set-up by you but I doubt much will come of that."

"Elizabeth Kelly selling him out?"

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about."

Deeks looked at him, "Nell had her figured out long before we did. This morning, Andrea Miller kept wondering why I was telling lies about her. She gets to take the high road on this one."

"Not quite. The FBI is investigating her having you picked up. LAPD is pushing the narrative that you being removed from the cover house caused enough confusion to let Boothe get in, stab Bernhart and grab Kensi. Since Bernhart and Kensi can't give statements right now, the FBI is handling her while LAPD and NCIS are running point on the case."

"Good. Maybe we should let Nell run the whole thing. She pointed out her suspicions early."

"Nell's busy with a new mystery. Deeks, that woman you had brought in this morning – she's not Elizabeth Kelly."

-30-


	9. The Right Regrets

**9.** "Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets." – Arthur Miller.

 

"Deeks, that woman you had brought in this morning - she's not Elizabeth Kelly."

Deeks turned to Callen. "Who the hell is she?"

"According to her fingerprints, she's Tina Ann Deavers. As far as Nell can tell, she had a shoplifting charge and a ticket for public intoxication charge in Palo Alto both in the summer of 1992. Other than that, a 1974 birth certificate, a 1978 Social Security number and a high school diploma with honors from Palisades High School are the only documents that say Tina Deavers exists."

"Where's Elizabeth Kelly?"

"Good question. Eric found a picture of Elizabeth Kelly at a social event with her parents when she was about ten that was in the Philadelphia Enquirer and after running it through software that would age her, facial recognition software said there's no way grade school Elizabeth Kelly grew up to be Boothe Financial' s CEO."

"Unbelievable," Deeks shook his head. "Is she, Tina, Deavers, whoever, talking?"

"She wants to talk to you. She hasn't invoked her right to an attorney..."

"She is an attorney. Or Elizabeth Kelly is an attorney."

"And she may have a fool for a client since she doesn't want a lawyer, just wants to talk to you."

"Not leaving."

"She's not seeing anyone until tomorrow at the earliest and that's only if you want to see her. I think that's the first thing your Lt. Bates and Hetty agreed on."

"My Lt. Bates? He'd love that. Once I know Kensi and Matthew are okay, I'm back in. I'll talk to her."

"I know Sam and I wanted you to wait but you did a good job back there."

"It was important to me that Boothe be as far away from Kensi as possible." And not touching her, he thought to himself. Definitely, not touching her. "Did Sam figure out where Kelly now Deavers walked up from?"

"There's a lot of news on that. You sure you don't want to take this out in the hall?" When Deeks just stared at him, Callen started to talk. "There was a hidden path, from Boothe's house to the house next door."

"The soap star's house?"

"No, Bianca Roman's house."

"Another alias for not-Elizabeth Kelly?" Deeks wondered.

"No. She's an 82-year old retired private duty nurse in Pennsylvania who has never been to California."

"Okay." Deeks stopped looking at Kensi and gave his full attention to Callen.

"Roman spent a few years in the mid to late 1990's carrying for Caroline Kelly, Elizabeth's mother. The Kellys are old Philadelphia money. When Elizabeth Kelly was ten, her parents were returning from a wedding when their car was in wreck. The family's driver was killed, her parents were badly injured. Daniel Kelly was left in debilitating pain. Caroline Kelly has been in a persistent vegetative state. She's been in the family home for over twenty years in her bedroom with round the clock care. Elizabeth was home schooled by tutors after the accident and graduated high school at 15. Daniel Kelly killed himself a few weeks after his daughter finished high school."

"Yeah, that's in all her bios."

"Well, Elizabeth Kelly got into Stanford but all the ID photos from Stanford are of Tina Deavers."

"What happened between the time she was in Philadelphia and Tina Deavers showed up in Palo Alto?" Deeks asked.

"Good question. There's more."

"With this case, of course there is."

"Bianca Roman was hired in 1995 by Deavers as Elizabeth Kelly to care for Caroline Kelly. Around the time she was 70, Roman retired and Elizabeth Kelly gave her a nice suburban Philadelphia home as a retirement gift."

Deeks shook his head. "LAPD gives you a dinner and a watch."

"Hetty buys the staff a cake. Back to Kelly/Deavers, she was finishing up Wharton at that point. Bianca Roman signed a number of papers to take ownership of the Philly house..."

"And wound up starting a charity and buying a place in Malibu."

"You've got it. It is all a trust that covers the taxes so a personal audit of Bianca Roman would show nothing. Her death would not impact the charity or the house either. Does the name Brittney Russell ring a bell?"

"The missing USC student from New Mexico. Disappeared after some big blow out with her visiting parents. Her parents have been sniping at LAPD about not enough attention being paid to her as a missing person. They're looking for her but it's possible she's a twenty-year-old on a walkabout."

"She wasn't on a walkabout. She was chained to a towel bar in a bathroom inside the Roman house. Sam found her with some members of LAPD CSU."

"Oh my God, Boothe had her. Well, Kelly now Deavers had her."

"The Roman house next door to Boothe is going to be a career's worth of work for LAPD CSU. There are body parts in two freezers in the guest house. Remember the playroom your neighbors had when you can Kensi were playing house in Hollywood Hills?"

"We weren't playing house, we were capturing a Russian spy." Deeks was actually proud that was the truth.

"Of course you were. Anyway, the main house had a playroom that was anything but. There's video, years and years' worth of video. Back to 2000. Missing persons may clear up a number of cases with what CSU took out of the video room."

"This gets worse by the minute. How's Brittney Russell?"

"Malnourished, beaten, she's been badly abused since Boothe returned home. Sam actually found her. She's been holding his hand like he's a lifeline ever since. He promised her he won't let go until her parents arrive."

"That's Sam." Deeks shook his head. "How badly did we screw this up? We all thought that men were Boothe's thing."

"Nate has an idea about that."

"Nate's involved in this?"

"Everything that you're involved with, Nate is going to be involved with. Same with Sam. Hetty's still worried about you two."

"Based on the damage I've caused on this case, she's got a point."

"You blame Sidorov and not Sam for what happened to you. I have no doubt that Kensi and Bernhart will blame Boothe and not you."

"What does Nate think?" Deeks changed the subject.

"The women, even Brittney Russell, were similar in appearance to Deavers. Unlike Deavers, though, they were tattooed - that's what caused the blow-up with Brittney Russell's parents. Some of the women had non-traditional piercings. For someone who grew up like Boothe, those would be unacceptable for a woman to date. But he liked them."

"So Boothe wanted what he thought was a trashy doppelganger for Elizabeth Kelly, who isn't Elizabeth Kelly."

"Doppelganger?"

"I went to college," Deeks said. "So these women were substitutes for Kelly, sorry Deavers."

"And whatever violence Boothe wanted to unleash on Deavers, he'd take it out on the kidnapped women. Based on the injuries Brittney Russell suffered, based on the women you thought were victims, Boothe would keep them, use and abuse them to death and dump them."

"Then how did the men get involved?"

"Nate has a theory."

"Why do I think this is going to make me sick?"

"Because it is. Nate thinks Boothe collecting women gave Deavers the thought of finding her non-Boothe to use and abuse. Boothe wanted someone who looked like Deavers, Deavers wanted long-hair, tattooed, muscular men. The anti-Boothe."

"But the men were gay or bi-sexual."

"And Nate thinks Boothe picked them up with the idea that they wouldn't be a rival for Deavers's affection."

"God. These two are the sadistic Bonnie and Clyde."

Kensi's right arm started twitching, startling both Deeks and Callen. "I'll get a doctor and then I'm going back to the Roman house. Nate's there."

"I thought he was in...well, I don't know where I thought he was but I thought he was out of the country."

"Hetty recalled him when you moved into the cover house."

"I screwed this up today but I'm not an invalid," Deeks said as he pulled his chair closer to the bed.

"Nobody said you were Deeks. And only you think you screwed up today. Hetty takes care of us all. What happened to you last spring still eats at Sam, still worries Kensi and is my fault. And you can play things like you're back to your old self but even trying to get you out of here to eat, you weren't going. You would have last year. Not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing; just a different thing and we're all getting use to that."

Kensi moaned and Callen left for the doctor. "Hey Kens, you there?" he asked as she started to move. He stood over the bed, watching her slowly come to the surface. "Hey, Kensi."

Kensi opened an eye and the other. "My head hurts. I'm in the hospital?" she wondered as she looked around. "Why am I in the hospital? Did we have an earthquake? Did I get hit on the head?"

"No. Does anything else hurt but your head?"

"Why am I in the hospital? We went to..."

"Miss Blye, I see you're up," a nurse said walking into the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused," Kensi answered honestly. "What happened?"

Kensi started to pull at the nasal cannula but the nurse, Jennifer Simmons, stopped her. "Ms. Blye, I'm going to have to insist you keep that in. One of the side effects of Rohypnol is respiratory depression. It is for your own good."

"I was roofied?" Kensi's confusion moved to outrage. Deeks found comfort in that.

"I'm going to find the doctor. I think Officer Deeks can fill you in," she said as she started to leave. "And sir, your friend is out of surgery," Nurse Simmons told Deeks as she opened the door.

"What the hell happened? What happened to Matt?"

"What do you remember?

"We went to bed. You were complaining about how I fold my clothes."

Deeks smiled. "No, I was complaining you don't fold your clothes. Stuffing things into a drawer is not folding. So you remember last night."

"What time is it?"

"It is nearly three Ms. Blye, I'm Doctor Mason," a fifty-ish doctor walked into Kensi's room. "If your friend will excuse us, when the nurse returns, we're going to do a quick check-up," Almost on cue, Nurse Simmons walked in.

"You OK with this?" Deeks asked Kensi.

"You're coming back?"

"Of course." Deeks backed out of the room and took a deep breath. He walked down the hall to the nurse's station and asked for Brittney Russell's room.

Without his badge, Deeks was lucky the officer guarding the room knew him. After being allowed in the room, Deeks found a badly beaten Brittney Russell sound asleep in her hospital bed. Callen wasn't kidding, she was holding onto Sam's right hand as if it was a teddy bear. He was leaning on the bed rail, humming "Yellow Submarine" to the sleeping girl.

"Looks like you made a new friend," Deeks whispered as he stood next to Sam.

"The poor kid. I saw some things with the SEALs that I thought were the worst things I was ever going to see. The marks on this poor girl, where she was kept, what she told the Sex Crimes Detective," Sam shook his head. "They need to put Boothe and Kelly away for a very long time. How's Kensi?"

"Just woke up. Doctor is checking her out. Wanted to see the rescued girl before I go to talk to Matthew's family."

"None of this is your fault."

"She's not. Matthew's on me. He told me to wait and I didn't." Deeks patted Sam on the back. "Brittney's luck turned around the minute you found her."

"Michelle's coming down after the kids get out of school and her Mom can watch them. Give this poor little girl another person on her side until her parents get here."

"You're a good man Sam Hanna. Brittney is lucky to have you," Deeks told him as he left the room.

Walking over to ICU, Deeks saw Frannie Bernhart sitting alone outside of her brother's room. "How's Matthew?" he asked as he sat next to her.

"Alive. Doctor is amazed how he managed to survive all that blood loss but he's alive. My parents are in the room with him. Only two visitors at a time according to the doctor."

"Matthew isn't going to let the bad guys win," Deeks smiled at his friend's sister. "And he'll be thrilled to wake up and see his family with him."

"He's a good cop, isn't he? I know Dad had to bail him out of trouble a while back. He never talks about work. Says he does what he does so Mom and I never have to deal with bad people."

"He's not a good cop, he's a great cop. He's gotten into trouble when the system lets him down. The time your father had to really step in a child molester got off on a technicality and moved right back into his old neighborhood near a daycare center and a Catholic grammar school."

"What did he do?" Frannie asked, half worried-half proud.

"Well, since he was never charged with anything, he did nothing."

"But..."

"Well, someone stole some orange reflective paint the DoT uses to paint dividing lines on streets. The child molester heard something outside his house and found "Kid Toucher" was painted in orange reflective paint on his garage door. Matthew was found four blocks away with a paint brush, the can of stolen paint and paint on his hands and clothes. He claims he found the paint and was looking to return it to the DoT."

Frannie was laughing. "That's Matt."

"Well, not really since nobody could prove he did it but yeah, that's Matthew." Deeks turned serious. "I can't give you the specifics of the case but Matthew tried to stop the abduction of a federal agent today. While he was bleeding and waiting for the ambulance, he helped lead LAPD and the feds to the place where the agent was being held. From there, LAPD and a different federal agent found a kidnapped girl who was being beaten and abused. Matthew is responsible for the arrest of two sexual predators who could have gone on abusing victims for years. Matthew's a hero. Make sure your family knows that. LAPD certainly does."

"Thank you, Marty."

"Do you have my number?" She opened her bag and pulled out her phone. After Deeks gave her the number he told her, "You call me if you want someone to talk to. If there's any change in Matthew, the hospital is going to call me but if you need someone to talk to about Matthew, about how much he's helped people, about what you can do, you call."

"What can I do?"

"Matthew adores you. Adores all of you. Be his really smart little sister and when he's feeling better, sneak in some In 'n' Out and eat it with him. Having a meal with people he cares about means everything to him. We had dinner together almost every night during this assignment."

"He had to love that. Mom and Dad were always doing charity and political dinners when we were kids. We never ate with them."

"He only left the case to have dinner with your Mom Sunday night," Deeks told her as he stood. "Double-double with no cheese. Side of fries. Strawberry shake."

"You remember that?"

"I lived with him for nine months on a different case. That's what he ate for nine months. Call me if you need to talk."

Deeks found his way back to Kensi's room just as Nurse Simmons was walking out with a clipboard. "How is she?"

"Persistent," Simmons answered. "The doctor wanted to keep her overnight but she said she was fine..."

"She's always fine," Deeks told her.

"That's what he thought but since she was leaving anyway, he's releasing her under the condition that you or a close friend stay with her."

"Won't let her out of my sight. Thank you for everything."

Deeks walked into Kensi's room and recapped everything she missed.

x-x-x

Deeks took one of the uncomfortable dinner table chairs from Kensi's apartment and the foot stool from the kitchen and sat outside her front door. Some fresh air was needed after a day inside the hospital. It took nearly two hours to get Kensi checked out of the hospital - shift change and all. Deeks hit the Subway drive thru before returning to Kensi's place. Kensi tore through her cold cut combo; Deeks nearly inhaled his turkey sub.

Kensi was nodding off during "Sports Center" - Deeks had no interesting in the evening news - so she decided to shower and rest. Deeks left his cellphone next to her bed and was watching her sleep on the iPad he set up on the foot stool.

After checking on her for the third time in person, Deeks was sitting out in cool night air when a surprise guest appeared - Nate. And Nate had a friend. "Monty," Deeks greeted his dog. Looking at Nate, he said, "Thanks man, sit for a second." Deeks opened the door and returned with the other table chair.

"Hetty had Pete, who has three beagles, take Monty to the groomer. He had some blood in his fur."

"He helped me find Matt. Stayed with him until we could help. Did the same with me last summer. No matter how bad I felt, he'd stay right next to me. Didn't you boy?"

"Well, picking him up from the groomer and bringing him here was the best part of my day."

"Callen told me you were in the Roman house."

"I was in hell on earth. When this is all done, I can't care if that house is worth millions. Get a bull dozer; knock the damn thing down, burn what's left and salt the earth."

"Going biblical there."

"As a psychologist, I understand that there are severely damaged and mentally ill people in this world. As a man and a human being, I'd like to see Boothe and Deavers put down like dogs."

Deeks feigned a gasp. "Not in front of Monty." When he got no reaction from Nate, Deeks asked, "You okay?"

"I was happy to have Monty and the ride over to end my day. How are you?"

"I thought your day was over."

"As a friend, how are you?"

"Furious at myself for letting Andrea Miller bait me. Sorry I didn't kick the speaker into the pool and fry that evil bastard and that evil bitch. Sick that I let them near Kensi and Matthew. Terrified for Matthew."

"I know a doctor at Los Robles. Det. Bernhart is holding his own."

"He needs to do more than hold his own. He needs to be able to work when this is over."

"He doesn't need to work, you know."

"Matthew's a cop. He does crazy, stupid things that gets him in trouble but he does it because he wants to save the world and prove he's worthy of the life he has."

"The anti-Boothe. Trust fund kid on the right side of the law."

"Yeah, well, barely on the right side of the law but yeah. How do you know about Matthew's money?"

"Hetty looked at you and Det. Bernhart as possible team members while I was working with her fulltime. I was given both of your backgrounds to study."

"And?"

"You're both proof that there is no model background for a good law enforcement officer."

"I wasn't all that good today." Deeks pointed to his iPad. "Look at her. She got into a car with a psycho because she thought he had me. Why the hell did she do that? And if you tell me it has to do with last spring, I'm going to scream."

"She'd have gone to rescue you long before last spring. She's always going to look out for you just as you always look out for her."

"He could have killed her. He could have taken her to that house of horrors, he could have..."

"None of those things happened. Don't live in a world of hypotheticals. Both Boothe and Deavers are in jail. Speaking of that, Callen said you're willing to see Deavers tomorrow."

"If Kensi's OK, yeah. I want to hear her story."

"I'd like to come with you." Before Deeks could react, Nate put his hand up. "I'll be in an observation room talking to you through your earwig."

"You know, it's funny. Or not funny but weird. I spent the last few weeks thinking my biggest problems were a rich psycho and an ambitious woman. Didn't plan on a combination of the two showing up."

"If you're going to see Deavers, Hetty wants to see you first. Nell's found a lot about Deavers and a connection to Boothe and possibly Elizabeth Kelly."

"I'm assuming she's dead."

"Probably for over twenty years."

Deeks shook his head. "This just gets worse by the minute."

x-x-x

Deeks and Kensi walked into the Mission for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half weeks. Sam was already at his desk.

"How's Brittney?" Kensi asked.

"Parents arrived around eight last night. Brittney's going to need a lot of help but she's got a loving family. They were just unhappy she got a tattoo. I showed them one of mine and told them it's art, not a measure of the person she is. What she survived is a measure of the person she is. A strong, brave person." Sam eyed Kensi head to toe. "How are you?"

"I know I've slept on and off for over a day but I'm still tired. The doctor said I would be for a few days."

"CSU found a bottle of Poland Spring water under the lounge chair where Deeks found you. They tested it. There was a Rohypnol, ecstasy and vodka in bottle. It was half empty. The hospital will have a full work up on you later this week and if they match, Boothe's fingerprints are all over the bottle and there was DNA on the bottle top."

"God," Deeks said as he sank into his chair.

"This isn't your fault," Kensi told him as she leaned against her desk.

"Have you heard about Bernhart?" Sam asked.

"Holding his own, according to his sister." Deeks replied.

Sam leaned back in his chair. "I didn't know his father was Sen. Bernhart."

"Oh yeah. Mr. Law and Order in the state house flaunts Matthew's career. His mother hates it."

"The hospital staff was talking about her when Michelle and I went to see how Bernhart was doing."

"I'm sure everyone knows she's there." Deeks told him.

Kensi gave him a quizzical look. "Why?"

"Cedars has the Lillian Bernhart Child Wellness Clinic. UCLA has the Chester Bernhart Men's Health Program after Matthew's father was diagnosed young with prostate cancer. I'm sure if Los Robles saves Matthew, an upgraded emergency room named for Matthew is in their future."

Eric's whistle broke up the conversation about the Bernharts. "Callen, Nate and Hetty are waiting." Eric smiled. "Nice to see you two back. Wasn't the same without you."

"I missed three months last summer," Deeks whispered to Kensi as they made their way to the stairs, "obviously your absence is the problem." Deeks thought he saw Kensi smile when she hit the landing.

In the Ops Center, a grim-looking Nate was leaning on the desk while Hetty and Nell stood by the big screen. "Mr. Deeks, Miss Blye, welcome back."

"Good morning, Hetty," Deeks and Kensi said in unison. The two nodded greetings to Nate and Nell. "What do we have on Tina Deavers?" Deeks asked as he pointed to the screen.

Nell pulled out her tablet and put documents on the screen. "We've found a lot prior to 1992 and then she completely disappears. She was an honors student at Palisades High School, had a full scholarship to San Diego State. She accepted the scholarship, did all the paperwork and never showed up. At the same time, Elizabeth Kelly started at Stanford and she was Tina Deavers."

"Where is Elizabeth Kelly?" Kensi asked.

"After she completed high school at home, Elizabeth Kelly's father sent her out to a camp in Palo Alto. An old secretary who worked for Daniel Kelly said he was worried that she wasn't as socially advanced as she was academically gifted. She attended a camp for bright kids who were good with computers but that encouraged social interactions."

"Did Sebastian Boothe attend that camp?" Deeks asked. "His father would have died a few months earlier."

"He did," Nell put some photos of Boothe at Camp Digital. "There are no pictures of Elizabeth Kelly at the camp but she won two ribbons in coding and website design. Any guesses on who worked at the camp for half the summer?"

"Tina Deavers," Kensi said.

"She worked in the kitchen and was learning computer coding from some of the instructors. While camp records are sketchy, she was let go in the middle of July. She was arrested for trying to shoplift nearly four hundred dollars' worth of clothes from a Gap near the camp and a day later was picked up for public intoxication. Not sure if she was fired after the shoplifting arrest or the public intoxication charge but she was let go."

"So everyone met nearly twenty years ago." Callen said. "This is unbelievable."

"We're searching records to see if there were any bodies found from Palo Alto to Malibu of unidentified teenage girls. Nobody would look at Elizabeth Kelly's dental records if a body was found."

"Do we know if Elizabeth Kelly's dental records are Elizabeth Kelly's?" Deeks asked. "The one thing that never made sense to me about Boothe..."

"Just one thing?"

"Okay, one thing that never added up was his total disinterest in computers and electronics but he had all those stolen laptops and iPods. It didn't make sense."

"It looks like the Boothe mansion was free of all the toys you would expect a wealthy man who went to computer camp to own. The Roman house, however, has world-class electronic gear," Eric added. "The house had its own computer servers, a VHS to digital set-up so old videos they made in the 1990's were digitized. LAPD's sex crimes sent us a report this morning stating there are video recordings going back to the mid 1990's."

"How organized are the files? One of Elizabeth Kelly's well-known keys to success was being meticulous in your work."

"When I got there yesterday," Callen told him, "CSU was stunned at how organized everything was. Binders, file folders. I checked, your old alias, Edward Martin, was a binder with photos, background info, your daily schedule. There were eleven files for men, twenty-seven for women."

Deeks was sickened. "Elizabeth Kelly?"

"Nothing," Callen answered. "But Deeks, they found a head in one of the freezers."

"Corey Moran," Deeks was sure of this.

"The Navy is checking his dental records but his was the only body found missing a head."

"Detective," Nate joined the conversation, "Are you still willing to speak to Deavers."

"I am," Deeks said. "There's nothing she can do to hurt me but maybe I can get some answers for the victims' families."

"She can hurt you, Detective. She's spent nearly two decades manipulating people. LAPD's SWAT officers had video when they entered Boothe's home. Her words, her tone, her attitude towards you - they're troubling."

"When is she being booked?"

"Now. Currently she and Boothe are being charged with abducting Miss Blye and assaulting Det. Bernhart. Boothe for the actual crimes, Deavers for being an accessory with more charges pending," Hetty answered.

"They're never getting out, Deeks. If what CSU and Sex Crimes says is true, they'll be lucky to get life sentences and not a needle," Callen told him. "You don't have to talk to her."

"I want to talk to her, I want to talk to Boothe."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Kensi said.

"I want to talk to the two of them, want to talk to the victims' families and then I never want to think about the two of them again. Set up the interview."

-30-


	10. Not Getting Caught

**10**. "In my experience, boys are predictable. As soon as they think of something, they do it. Girls are smarter - they plan ahead. They think about not getting caught." - Eoin Colfer, "Half-Moon Investigations"

 

"You don't have to do this," Nate said to Deeks as Nate and Kensi took their seats in the Observation Room at the L.A. County Courthouse lock-up.

Deeks opened his earwig case and started to prepare for the interview. Through the two-way glass, he watched Tina Ann Deavers turned Elizabeth Kelly shuffle into the Interview Room with a waist chain and leg irons. The female corrections officer with Deavers started attaching the ankle cuffs, removing the waist chains and handcuffing her charge to a ring on the table top. Turning his attention back to Kensi and Nate, Deeks said "You know, I think someone has said that to me every day since this investigation started. I haven't quit yet, why start now?"

"Because they're caught. Because they're going away forever if they're not given the death penalty. Because you don't give psychos what they want just because they ask for something," Kensi answered.

"Because whatever guilt you have about what happened yesterday to Det. Bernhart or Kensi or years ago to Lt. Moran could be something Deavers would use against you," Nate added.

"He has nothing to feel guilty about when it comes to Matt or me," Kensi said, looking straight at Deeks.

"Can I get that in writing?" Deeks tried to joke. When he got no reaction, he turned serious. "I have my own agenda here. I want to know where the real Elizabeth Kelly is. I want to know why someone who was smart enough to get through Stanford in three years, earn an MBA and JD in three years and successfully run a large financial firm for years could be doing this with her free time."

"She'll be studied for years by professionals," Nate assured him.

"No insult intended Doc, but a lot of shrinks are going to look for the causes of why she did this and most are going to hold her hand to get her to spill. If you think she's going to use my guilt over Kensi, Matthew and Corey Moran against me, don't you think she'll make the shrinks do what she wants for a glimpse into her terrible psyche? And she'll use them. She'll find some lousy thing that happened to her or some slight, real or perceived, that lead her down her troubled path." Deeks's voice dripped with disdain. "I'm not going not hold her hand; I'm not going to offer her any easy outs. She wants to talk to me, great. I have no interest in hearing how she's a victim. I'm looking for external answers. Not really interested in her justifications. Where is the real Elizabeth Kelly is a good place start."

Deeks's phone rang. Caller ID read Frances J. Bernhart. "Frannie, how's Matthew?"

"He's awake," Frannie's joy was obvious even on the cellphone line. "The doctors are with him now but he tried to pull out the ventilator which to me means he's back to his usual self."

"Yeah, I told you, they weren't keeping him down." Deeks said as the door to the Observation Room opened. In walked Callen and Andrea Miller. He heard Kensi's "hell no" before continuing with Frannie. "I'm finishing up something that has to do with the case Matthew and I were working right now. When I'm done, I'm going right to the hospital. Tell Matthew I'm coming."

"I will. Thanks for everything, Marty."

"Frannie, I owe your brother a lot on this case. He saved the day." Deeks disconnected the call and told the room, "Matthew's awake."

"Good news," was Nate's comment.

Kensi was more interested in their FBI guest. "Why is she here?"

"Slumming?" Deeks asked.

"Is that's how you talk about your bosses?" Andrea Miller asked.

"He's not my boss," Deeks said. Pointing at Callen, he explained, "Callen's a colleague. And I wasn't talking about him, I was talking to him." Deeks was happy to see Callen crack a small smile. "Nate and Kensi have expressed their concerns about me meeting with Tina Deavers. You got any?" he asked Callen.

"You have the complete support of NCIS and I'm sure if LAPD had concerns, you wouldn't be here. In the spirit of inter-departmental cooperation, Ms. Miller will observe the interview. Both Hetty and I made it clear we thought it was a mistake and that you and you alone should handle any interrogation of Deavers or Boothe." Callen pulled out a chair next to Nate. "Assistant Director, please have a seat. I've been given the authority to remove you at any point. Don't start anything with Det. Deeks you're not willing to finish in the elevator on your way out of the building."

"Or Kensi. Don't start anything with Kensi. She's the one who wound up in the hospital yesterday and I'm putting that on you." Deeks pointed to Deavers. "My eleven o'clock is waiting." Deeks took the case file folder with him as left. "I don't want to hear a word from you," Deeks told Miller. "You have a question, pass it on to Dr. Getz."

"I don't take orders from you," Miller sniffed.

"No, you don't," Callen said, "but if you distract him, you're gone."

Deeks ambled into the Interview Room. "Good morning Ms. Deavers."

"Who?"

Standing behind the interviewer's chair, Deeks said, "Before we start. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights I've just read to you? Knowing these rights, do you still wish to speak to me?"

"I had my rights read to me yesterday."

"And you only said you wanted to speak to me. Before we go on, knowing your rights, do you wish to speak to me?"

"I do."

"Thank you, Ms. Deavers."

"Again, who?"

Deeks eased himself into the interview chair and dropped the file folder on the table. "Tina Ann Deavers. Are you Tina or Tina Ann?"

"I'm Elizabeth Kelly."

"No, Tina Ann Deavers. You shouldn't shoplift from the Gap. They'll ban you from the store and scare the living hell out of you for a shirt or two but four hundred dollars' worth of stuff - you're getting a ride downtown and fingerprinted." Deeks opened the folder and pulled out two fingerprint sheets. "You're Tina Ann Deavers. We're getting a DNA sample from Caroline Kelly and that will end your access to the Kelly fortune."

"Made enough of my own money."

"Fraudulently. And hopefully wrapped up in company stocks. Boothe Financial, which you were so desperate to save while you were bugging my fake office, is toast. SEC was moving in today to try to stabilize the company before selling it for pennies on the dollar to probably Morgan Stanley."

"You found the bug?"

"I'm really not interested in answering questions at this time. I am interested in you answering some of my questions so, where is the real Elizabeth Kelly?"

"I'm the real...

"OK," Deeks tone got harsher. Pulling out his phone, he opened the stopwatch app and set it for three minutes. "You have three minutes to answer my question, otherwise the next time I see you I'll be raising my hand and swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

"What do I get out of this? Maybe we can play twenty questions? Quid pro quo?"

"Two minutes thirty four, thirty three, thirty two."

"You're not going to leave, you'll do what I say if you want answers."

"Be careful Detective," Nate warned. "You have to keep control but let her think she's got a say in what's going on."

"Ms. Deavers, there's enough right now just on videotape to get you and Sebastian Boothe the gas chamber. I think we both know the real Elizabeth Kelly is dead and has been dead for a very long time. Now, you can answer or not. You've got about ninety seconds left. Wasn't one of Elizabeth Kelly CEO's keys to success being able to meet a deadline. You have yours. And when I finish here, I'll call Michael Hudson and tell him that I'll push for Boothe not getting the death penalty if he just tells me were Elizabeth Kelly is."

"I had such plans for you."

"Deeks," Kensi warned. "She's baiting you."

"Sebastian didn't like to share," Deavers told him. "It's the spoiled brat, only child in him. Kept finding the right looking guy but always someone we'd have to load up on drugs. Sebastian isn't much of a fighter and when the guys realized the party wasn't going to end, well, some muscle relaxants to keep them compliant, a little Viagra and 'E' to keep things, ahem, up, and let the fun begin. But you, you, I wanted to keep you. And he made sure you were damaged goods when he thought he was caught. Spoiled all my fun."

"Life is full of disappointments. You're about to experience one. If you don't tell me what happened to Elizabeth Kelly, I'm done. Ten seconds Ms. Deavers."

The time ticked away, finally beeping when 0:00 showed up. "Enjoy your cell Ms. Deavers. You'll be in one for the next fifty years or so." Deeks stood, took the file folder and walked to the door.

Just as he opened the door, Deeks heard, "She did it to herself."

"Who's that?"

"Elizabeth. Bethie. Sweet little Bethie. Haven't really thought about her in years."

"Too busy being her, I suppose." Deeks walked back to the table and sat down.

"I suppose." Deavers nodded. "Everyone felt so sorry for her. Sheltered from the harsh outside world, living the oh-so-sad family life. Comatose mother, dead father - poor little Bethie," Deaver's voice was devoid of any sympathy. "She was so desperate to be liked. To have friends. Sebastian saw that right away. He knew."

"How did he know?"

"He reads people. He's really good at it."

"Yeah, he had me figured out," Deeks said with sarcasm.

"No, he had her picked out right away. He could play his shy, socially awkward guy to the hilt even then."

"He told you this?"

"I saw it before."

"You knew Sebastian Boothe before Camp Digital."

"I guess your little file folder doesn't have everything. You want more? I want something from you."

"Absolutely not, Deeks," Kensi told him.

"Be careful," Nate warned.

"Not really into playing games, Ms. Deavers. I just want answers."

"I would have played such games with you," she said as she tried to move her handcuffed hands to his.

"So you knew Boothe before, interesting," Deeks said as he looked back at the Observation Room window.

"I have Nell and Eric looking into this," Callen said.

"How many people do you have on the other side of that window?" Deavers asked. Leaning so she could look right past him, she said "You, in the other room, do you always like to watch?" Turning her attention back to Deeks, she commented, "You must like to perform. Undercover cop, probably always have cameras on you. Any tape on you LAPD hasn't seen?"

"Oh, hose that bitch down," Kensi mumbled, making Deeks smile.

"What's so funny?" Deavers asked.

"They're finding your act amusing."

"Not an act."

"No, it's not. Sadly, we have the videotape to prove it. Back to Elizabeth Kelly," Deeks tried to steer the conversation back to the case.

"Sebastian wanted what you all want..."

"What we all want..."

"You all let the smaller head do your thinking. Sweet little Bethie wanted a dream California boyfriend. A Ken doll come to life who would hold her hand, tell her she was pretty, promise of a long, happy future and never ever touch her. Sebastian wanted to fuck her and smack her around a little bit. That's what he liked at the time."

"Deeks, according to Eric, a Pamela Deavers was a cook for several wealthy Malibu and Beverly Hills types. She never had a child but there has to be a connection," Nate told him.

"And you knew this because he was fucking you and smacking you around."

"What we did was more than that."

Deeks cocked an eyebrow her way. "I'm sure. So what, Elizabeth Kelly didn't want to be beat up by Malibu Sebastian?"

"She didn't want anything. Tried to get away, threatened to go to the counselors. Nobody likes a tattletale."

"Says the woman who is snitching right now," Kensi commented.

"So he killed her?" Deeks asked.

"No. He told her that if she told anyone he'd say he turned her down, make her out to be the needy, camp slut. And it worked. She didn't say a thing. But Sebastian doesn't like a tease."

"Go on."

"He wanted to dig up some dirt on St. Bethie, the Virgin Princess. Make her his."

"And how did you know about this?"

"We were dating when we got there. We'd grab some time when we could. After I got dismissed, Sebastian gave me some money to hang around and we spent a lot of our free time together."

"So where is Elizabeth Kelly?"

"Last day of camp, everyone was saying goodbye and leaving with their nannies or caretakers. Little Bethie is getting limo'd to the Four Seasons where a college transition expert is supposed to help her move in. Me, I'm having a farewell nooner with Sebastian before we go back to L.A. and Bethie finds us. I was barred from camp property and well, he didn't do it on purpose but he grabbed her as she started to leave and she hit a rock."

"Did she hit the rock or did the rock hit her while Sebastian held it?"

"She fell. Sebastian was afraid he'd be blamed. I knew he wouldn't be blamed, the fired help would be."

"You."

"Me. We loaded her into the back of this old car I was using, bought one of those sports duffle bags that hold baseball bats and gear. We dropped her in the Pacific outside Pescadero Beach. I showed up at the Four Seasons that afternoon and nobody ever asked a single question."

"Nell's checking Jane Does that washed up in the summer/fall of 1992 from Camel to Eureka," Kensi told him.

"I don't believe you," Deeks said.

"You wanted to know what happened to poor little Bethie, now you know. May I ask you about your life?"

"No."

"Did it hurt when you were tortured?"

"How did you pass for Elizabeth Kelly at Stanford? She had to do interviews to get into the school."

"Suicidal Daddy paid to get her into Stanford. He knew what he was planning. He was shipping her off someplace. Her interview was with some Stanford alum in Philadelphia. The guy was a drunk because I met him a few years later and he didn't notice the difference. He called her smart, shy but confident in the interview write-up. The rich bitch triple threat."

"Aww, someone's inadequacies are showing."

"You'd know about that, wouldn't you Marty? Unloved, abused child turned outsider, abused cop. Nobody likes poor sweet Martin unless they get to beat on him."

"Nell's found six young women who washed ashore in Northern California," Kensi told him. "Get out of there, Deeks. She's toxic."

"Your girl…" Deavers continued.

"She's many things, including a federal agent, but she's nobody's girl. Maybe that's one of your many problems. You see people as possessions, if you see them as people at all."

"Do you let her hit you or are you one of those guys who takes out getting beat on as a kid by beating on your woman."

"Again, a bit odd with the possessive terms."

"So that's a yes."

"No, that's a no. And you'll excuse me if I chose not to discuss whatever private life I have and whatever private life a colleague has with you. Speaking of colleagues, the detective your boy, Sebastian, tried to gut yesterday when he was kidnapping a federal agent is alive, awake and will no doubt be a great witness against Boothe."

"LAPD sold you out last time to get Sebastian in jail because they didn't think they could beat him in court. Why do you think this is any different?"

"You mean besides the forensic evidence that probably be measured by the ton and the video of the two of you being evil incarnate at the Roman house? Det. Bernhart is the name of cop Sebastian stabbed. His father is Chester Bernhart."

Deavers offered a small reaction. "State Senator Bernhart?"

"One and the same. He's got a law and order reputation. Has mentioned his son is a cop several times in campaign material. Now his son was stabbed by one-half of a team of kidnappers-sexual sadists-serial killers during an investigation into said kidnappers-sexual sadists-serial killers. The State Senator, his socialite wife - real socialite, not a faux socialite like you - going to the trial every day. Det. Bernhart is a hero. The trust fund guy who didn't wind up like Boothe - rich, useless and weird. Didn't wind up like you - stealing a rich person's life and being vicious and weird. Best. Trial. Ever. For LAPD and the DA's Office."

"LAPD and the DA's office couldn't convict OJ, Robert Blake, Michael Jackson…"

"You know what those cases had in common? No videotape. Wait until a jury sees a best-of compilation from you two. You'll be lucky to see life in Pelican Bay instead of death row."

"California hasn't executed anyone in over seven years."

"Don't undersell that video collection, Ms. Deavers. Juries love video," Deeks stood and collected the arrest file. "And they're going to hate you."

x-x-x

"Don't screw this up kid," Bates warned as the warning buzzer blared. "The tiny terror thinks you're filling out paper work. I'm not taking the hit for this one if she finds out."

The gate to the county lock-up opened. Walking down the long hall, he passed a number of prisoners in for a court appearance or waiting to return to whatever facility they called home. In the final cell sat Sebastian Boothe. "Hello Sebastian."

"Marty, my lawyer isn't here. You can't talk to me."

"I can't question you. I can talk. I'm good at talking. Everyone says so." Deeks looked around at Boothe's cell - single bed, stainless steel sink and toilet. "Quite a step down from Sea Lane Drive. Though, your house on Sea Lane Drive, not the house of horrors next door."

"How's Brit-Brit?"

"Who?"

"Elizabeth's welcome home gift."

"Tina's welcome home gift," Deeks corrected him, sickened by calling a kidnapped college student a gift.

"Who's Tina?"

"Oh, Sebastian, don't play dumb," Deeks chided. "She was fingerprinted."

Boothe chuckled. "We pulled off the greatest scam ever."

"Convincing the world you were both human beings?"

"Oh Marty, don't be like that," Boothe stood and made his way to the bars. "The entire world thinks poor little rich girl Elizabeth Kelly became a worldwide business icon. She showed me an offer she had from a publisher – a big publisher – to write her autobiography. Surviving tragedy to rise triumphantly through the business world is worth a two million dollar advance. The best part, the heroine was played by Tina Deavers of Pacific Palisades who had an accountant father bail on the family when she was six, a psycho mother, a chef sister who enjoyed a bit too much of the cooking sherry and a lover who made damn sure she made it to the top."

"You know, when you brought her to the bar all those years ago, I did a quick search on her. Read her bio and I was stunned that someone with that fancy business degree from Stanford, from Penn, the law degree was working in the charity end of your business. I guess I figured that Elizabeth Kelly survived the hard times with the help of a nice trust fund and wanted to do good. All that Catholic guilt about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich person to go to heaven. But no. It all makes perfect sense now. She couldn't get a broker's license, she couldn't take the bar – fingerprints. She could run the charities – nobody asks too many questions about a rich woman giving out checks."

"And having her move into a position of importance after my arrest. Who has cleaner hands than the head of corporate giving?"

"After a search of that house next door, the term clean will never come up in discussions of the two of you."

"Why are you here Marty? City worker gloating because he sees himself as the hero in his own little story? Tell me, who do you want to play you in the movie, Brad Pitt? Bradley Cooper? I'm hoping for Leonard DiCaprio to play me, to be honest."

"No movies. No gloating. No heroes. Just wanted to see you in your natural habitat. See the type of place you'll live for the next fifty years."

"Michael Hudson is already waiting for you," Boothe warned. "By the time he's finished with your background, the jury will think you're an unbalanced washout who couldn't make it as a lawyer, couldn't make it as a cop and is desperate to be a fed. Even got yourself tortured to prove how much you wanted to fit in. You took all that anger out on me. You targeted me. You promised me you weren't investigating me and yet, here I sit."

"Oh, I think discovery is going to be a challenge for Mr. Hudson. And what I promised was that as long as you weren't a suspect in another crime, I had no interest in you. You killed Corey Moran, you had Brittney Russell chained in the house next door. There's video of all the evil you and Ms. Deavers could do. I am the least of Mr. Hudson's worries."

"I'll be out someday. And I'm going to find you and your bitch and …."

"Goodbye Sebastian," Deeks said as he started to walk away. "You're never getting out and except when I testify, I don't ever have to deal with you again. Have a long, miserable life."

x-x-x

Deeks made a stop before returning to the Malibu house to pack up his things and leave. Frannie Bernhart was on the elevator as he boarded. "I needed coffee," she told him.

"Frannie, you're not going to be any good to him if you make yourself sick."

"I don't want him to be alone."

"And he wouldn't want you to be sick," Deeks replied as they got off on the third floor. "I'll make you a deal. You go back downstairs and go outside. Take a cab to the shopping center on North Moorpark. You got all the fast food you could hope for and a couple of places that actually sell semi-healthy food. Find some, eat it. I'll sit with your brother until you're well fed. Deal?"

"The doctors are in with him now."

"And I'm next. Take a cab there and I'll arrange for someone to pick you up when you're done."

"Is there a Subway?"

"Of course, it is a shopping center."

Frannie started laughing. "Dad's back in Sacramento. Mom's decided that she's going to spend nights with Matthew so she's sleeping during the day. I just don't want him to be alone."

"I'll be here every day at lunch if I can. If I can't, I'll send someone. You're to start eating and not just at Subway."

"But I love the five dollar footlongs."

"Frannie, I'm thinking you can probably swing a slightly more healthy meal for lunch."

"But they're good."

Deeks gave her a light peck on the cheek. "And you're your brother's sister. I'd expect the same comment for him."

"That may be the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a long time. Thanks Marty," she handed him her coffee and made her way back down the hall.

Deeks took one sip of the mud passing as hospital coffee and found the closest trash pail. Matt's hospital room door opened and a doctor and nurse walk out. Deeks sent a quick text to Bates, asking if someone was available to bring an exhausted Frannie Bernhart back to the hospital from the Conejo Valley Plaza Shopping Center Subway. "There will be," was the Lieutenant's immediate reply.

Matt had tubes coming out of about every opening in his hospital gown. IV's, catheters, drains – all items Deeks remembered from his last hospital stay. "You look like shit," Deeks said without malice.

"No, I look butch and brave. You looked like shit in the spring."

Deeks sat down in the chair next to his bed. "You and me, Matthew, we need to make a pact. No more getting hurt for the rest of our careers."

"Where's the fun in that?" Matthew asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Actually living long enough to collect on our pensions. How entertaining would it be for Bates and Deputy Chief Warner to actually have to say nice things about us at our retirement dinners?"

"I don't want a dinner. I want a celebratory farewell at the Boobie Bungalow."

"Of course you do," Deeks chuckled. "How you feeling?"

"Gut hurts. They have me on some super strong painkillers and it still hurts. Not looking forward to recovery and rehab."

"If you want someone to hang with during that, I'm happy to be around. I owe you."

"You owe me nothing," Matt smiled and batted his eyes at Deeks, "your friendship is payment enough."

"I owe you for last spring. I owe you for working this case. I owe you for saving Kensi."

"From what Bates told me, you saved Kensi. Going in alone is going to guarantee you don't get a retirement dinner."

"I needed to get her away from him. Then he wound up being them."

"I met her, that not-Elizabeth Kelly bitch, at some ladies who lunch thing my mother ran. I think Mom was improving libraries in bad neighborhoods. Saw her and thought she was hot. Jesus, you're usually the one with lousy radar when it comes to psycho chicks."

"She fooled everyone. If she didn't show up when she did, she'd still be running free."

"How's Kensi?"

"Worried about you."

"Not the answer I was looking for but good to hear."

"She's good. Doesn't remember much."

"He jammed a water bottle in mouth as I was figuring out if my intestines were going to fall out."

"Yeah, our computer people picked up a reflection."

"He came up from the beach. Sam was right about that being a vulnerability."

"Sam's really good at his job."

"So are we. Two screw-up cops and a fed caught the bad guys. Or bad guy and girl."

"I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Oh no. They're not getting out, are they?"

"No, oh no. They're either going to supermax or going to death row."

"OK."

"This is your bust. NCIS is fine with giving credit to LAPD and I'm moving it over to you."

"Our bust."

"Your bust. You're the one who stayed conscious long enough to tell me where Kensi was. You're the one who saw the boat a couple of Sundays ago."

"That was fake-Elizabeth Kelly?"

"The fake foundation she set up to own the mansion next to Boothe's had a boat registered and docked in a nearby marina. There was an assortment of wigs at the house. Can't prove it yet but it was her. Your bust."

"Martin…"

"Matthew, I owe you. You saw him take Kensi. I owe you forever."

"She's amazing."

"She is."

"Normally I'd say you outkicked your coverage but I saw her before you met. Couple of us went out for drinks and she was cool. She's different now. Looks at you like you look at her. It's nice."

"It is."

"I got the impression from Sam that he doesn't know."

"He knows. Or he has some idea. They all do on some level but we're not officially out there as a couple and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Nothing to worry about from me, man. I just want to host the bachelor party."

"Yeah, two things on that. First, let's see where Kensi and I go."

"You happy?"

"Yes."

"She happy?"

"She tells me she is."

"So you're happy. What more do you need?"

"Good point."

"Now, what's second?"

"Any bachelor party you run is likely going to include a barn animals, a car chase and possibly a run in with the Mexican Federales."

"It isn't a party until someone calls the cops."

x-x-x

After arranging a schedule with Frannie, Hetty and Bates that allowed him to visit Matt, Deeks finally returned to the Malibu house. He found Kensi packing. And by packing, she was throwing all her belongings indiscriminately into a couple of duffle bags.

"You know, if you fold things neatly," he suggested, "you might get more into each bag."

"I'm just going to wash most of this when I get home, what's the difference Felix Unger?"

"Felix Unger? Someone's been watching scripted TV."

"When Callen and I were in New York, one of the local stations ran it. You should watch it, it's very funny."

"I've seen it. A lot. Mephistopheles."

"The devil?"

"Yeah, we need to do an "Odd Couple" weekend at some point."

"Speaking of the devil, the FBI found dental records from a retired dentist in Pennsylvania who treated then 12-year old Elizabeth Kelly. He kept all of his files. The films are in rough shape but the FBI computer forensics lab is going to try to match the real Elizabeth Kelly dental records of the young women who washed ashore in California from 1992 on."

"And as her final act as an Assistant Director at the FBI, Andrea Miller helps bring home the real Elizabeth Kelly."

"Hetty told you?" Kensi asked.

"No, but it makes sense. She'll go out on a high note. Probably earn a commendation and you got kidnapped, Matthew got stabbed and I plan on filing a long complaint with the Office of Professional Responsibility."

"It won't matter, she's going to resign to run for her mother's seat. Her mother may even retire early to guarantee the seat stays in the family."

Deeks plopped down on the bed alongside Kensi's duffels. "Unbelievable."

"Deeks, two serial killers are in jail, a kidnapped girl is back with her family. I'm fine, it sounds like Matt is going to recover and LAPD CSU thinks twenty-five murders may be solved when this is all finished. Andrea Miller gets her little victory. Everything you started six years ago when the investigation into Sebastian Boothe was opened is done. He's never getting out of jail."

Deeks looked up at her, standing with her hands on her hips absolutely exasperated at him. "Thank you," he said softly.

"For what?"

"Everything. Six years ago, I was by myself on this case. I had Ruben, I had Bates but mostly, I had me. And it was fine. It worked. Boothe went to jail for the wrong crimes but he went to jail. Six years later, I still have Ruben and Bates. I found Matthew somewhere along the way but what I really have is you."

"Everyone at NCIS knew you could…"

"Not talking about NCIS. For all the 'I'm just a dumb cop trying to keep up' posing I do in the office, I know I'm good at this. I'm a good cop, I'm good at running an undercover operation. I learned a lot from Bates and Ruben and Matthew. And I can do this."

"Damn right you can."

"But I do it better with you. I still have some problems…"

"Like neat freakery," she smiled as she interrupted.

Deeks lifted an eyebrow at her, "You're not free of issues there either, Oscar Madison. But I'm better with you. Everything's better with you."

"I told you that Sunday morning when this all started I had your back."

"You did. You always do."

Kensi turned serious. "I always will."

-30-

One chapter to go. Thanks so much for riding along.


	11. Watch the News

**11**. "I like to watch the news because I don't like people very much and when you watch the news, if you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know you're right." - Frank Zappa

x-x-x

Los Angeles Times

 **Deavers-Boothe sentenced to multiple life terms.**  
Billie Newman, Los Angeles Times  
September 5, 2014 - 12:33 p.m.

Los Angeles - After a nearly-six month trial that included the revelation of a secret marriage, pro se legal defense and the attempted illegal recording of the testimony of two undercover law enforcement officials, Tina Ann Deavers-Boothe was sentenced to 26-life terms to be served consecutively for kidnapping and murder and a series of shorter sentences for identity theft, fraud and assault all to be served after the life sentences. Judge Zoey Hiller handed down a sentence with the intent that Deavers-Boothe "will never be released from incarceration during her remaining life."

Deavers-Boothe was found guilty in the kidnapping and murder of 26 men and women, including teenager Elizabeth Kelly whose identity Deavers-Boothe assumed.

The 22-week trial, where Deavers-Boothe acted as her own attorney, opened with the revelation that she married convicted murderer Sebastian Boothe two days after Boothe was released after being incarcerated for six year on theft charges. In January, Sebastian Boothe pled guilty to all charges brought against him in exchange for the death penalty being removed as a sentencing option. Boothe is serving 26-consecutive life sentences for kidnapping and murder. There were additional sentences for the attempted murder of a Los Angeles police officer, kidnapping and assaulting a federal agent. He is currently fighting extradition to North Carolina where he is a suspect in the death of a Durham woman while he attending graduate school.

In her role as defense attorney, Deavers-Boothe was allowed to cross examine the police officers, forensic specialists and federal agents behind her arrest along with the only living victim. The testimony of a 20-year old college student kidnapped and beaten by Deavers-Boothe was the centerpiece of the prosecution's case. Aggressive cross-examination earned warnings time and time again from Judge Hiller as Deavers-Boothe attempted to taunt and intimidate the victim on the witness stand.

A week after the victim's testimony, the courtroom had to be cleared when an associate of Deavers-Boothe was discovered using his telephone to record the testimony of a deep undercover LAPD detective assigned to an undisclosed federal agency. Michael Sweeney, who worked for Boothe Financial as an administrative assistant to the CEO, was discovered with the testimony of the LAPD detective and an undercover federal agent recorded with his Boothe Financial issued cellphone. Sweeney pled guilty to second degree criminal contempt and sentenced to one year in jail.

Det. Matthew C. Bernhart, who was stabbed by Boothe during the kidnapping of the undercover federal agent, was the public face of law enforcement during the trial. While several federal agencies were involved with investigation, Det. Bernhart, now on modified duty, gave detailed testimony of an investigation that targeted Sebastian Boothe in the death of a Navy officer turned film and television technical advisor only to learn of a "Bonnie and Clyde"-style crime spree spanning decades. In his victim impact statement, Det. Bernhart said that he wore the scars from his stabbing with pride because it led to the arrests of Boothe and Deavers-Boothe. He also hoped she lived "another one-hundred years locked away from good and decent people."

The 20-year old kidnapping victim addressed Deavers-Boothe during her impact statement saying, "I will celebrate every birthday, every accomplishment in my life, every good thing that happens to me knowing that I am free and you are not. I will see the sunshine for more than one hour a day. I will see my family, my real family and not a family I appropriated. I will see my friends and know that you could not and did not take these things from me." The young woman concluded her statement thanking law enforcement, especially the federal agent who found her and did not leave her side until she was reunited with her family in the hospital.

Deavers-Boothe refused to make a statement to the court before sentencing, claiming she did not want to impact her pending appeals.

Judge Hiller found that Deavers-Boothe to be a violent sexual predator and recommended segregation from the general population in the California Institution for Women.

Times staff writer Joseph Rossi contributed to this report.  
Photograph Dennis Price, Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2014

# # #

Washington Post

 **Rep. Teresa Miller to retire for university job.  
Daughter to seek seat.**  
Gray Grantham, Washington Post  
March 20, 2014

Upper Marlboro, MD - Rep. Teresa Miller will retire from Congress at the end of her current term to rejoin the University of Maryland system as Provost. Miller, 61, has served in Congress since 1992.

"It has been my great honor to serve the people of the 5th Congressional District. As I embark on this next phase of my life, I thank the good people of my district for their faith, trust and support during my time in the House."

Potential candidates for Miller's seat include the Representative's only child, daughter Andrea. Andrea Miller is a former FBI Assistant Director who was instrumental in the Boothe-Deavers serial killer investigation and uncovering the murder and identity theft of young Elizabeth Kelly of Haverford, PA. Former Assistant Director Miller was also a key player in several Wall Street financial investigations after working with the FBI's Behavioral Sciences Unit. While a respected member of the FBI, political insiders believe the younger Miller lacks her mother's personal touch with both voters and Hill staffers.

Rep. Miller has a long-standing association with UMD, working as a history professor from the 1980's until her successful run for the House in 1992. With her husband, longtime Washington power broker Frank, Rep. Miller endowed the Josephine Messina Scholarship fund at UMD. Named for Rep. Miller's immigrant mother, the scholarship offers financial assistance to first generation Americans attending UMD.

# # #

Malibu Times

 **The Matthew C. Bernhart Beach House Opens.  
Notorious houses of horror begin new mission for injured police, fire and military personnel.**  
Andrea Sachs, Malibu Times  
May 1, 2015

Promising to let "goodness and healing" thrive in a place of death and despair, philanthropist Lillian Bernhart along with her son Matthew opened the Matthew C. Bernhart Beach House. Built on the grounds of the former homes of Sebastian Boothe and the Bianca Roman Foundation, the Bernhart Beach House will provide a comfortable rehabilitation facility for Los Angeles Police Officers and Firefighters as well as U.S. Military members injured in the line of duty.

As the properties sat unsold for nearly a year, The Bernhart Foundation approached the city with an offer to purchase the land, raze the existing structures and build a rehabilitation facility for Los Angeles police officers and firefighters as well as area military members injured in the line of duty. The 50-room facility includes a full-time staff of doctors, nurses, physical and psychological therapists, top of the line rehabilitation equipment and guest rooms for family members staying with their injured loved ones.

The $750 million state-of-the art facility joins the Frances J. Bernhart Family Apartments at Los Robles Hospital as just the latest charitable endeavors by The Bernhart Foundation to the Los Angeles medical community.

"During my son's rehabilitation, he went missing one Sunday morning. While everyone was in a panic, Matt probably did the best thing for his health. He called a fellow LAPD detective, an officer who was badly injured himself in the line of duty a year and a half earlier, and that officer smuggled Matt out of the hospital and to the beach," Lillian Bernhart explained at the ribbon cutting ceremony. "While scaring both the rehab facility staff and our family half to death, Matt told me he took off to breathe the sea air, to see the sun from something other than the window in his room, to feel the sand between his toes and to walk into the ocean. He was stronger and happier after that. There were a few other unauthorized trips to the beach and every time he returned healthier and happier. Even with the high quality of care he received during his time at the rehab facility, it made me realize the medical environment needed to offer the same restorative qualities."

Matt Bernhart joked his way through the ribbon cutting ceremony, asking his mother why he didn't get a Malibu beach house when he ran away the first time at 15. He thanked the staff of the Beverly Hills Rehabilitation Facility for their help returning him to good health and to his career with the LAPD. He apologized for the new competition. Turning serious, he thanked his family for their tireless support during his recovery and the LAPD officer who found him after the stabbing and then saved him "with contraband In 'n Out dinners and unauthorized day passes to the beach."

The Bernhart Beach House was met with some local opposition when it was initially announced. When television producer Arthur Winston mentioned in a television interview some of his Malibu neighbors were less bothered with having two serial killers living among them than recovering heroes, opinions quickly changed. Winston later put his money behind his vocal support, financing the building of a small restaurant for the facility, Janie's Kitchen, and movie theater on the premises so patients and family members could enjoy a normal evening away from their rooms and rehabilitation. Winston endowed three scholarships at the International Culinary School at the Arts Institutes to provide a rotating group of chefs to work in Janie's Kitchen.

The Bernhart Beach House will start accepting patients next week.

# # #

Hollywood Reporter

 **Arthur Winston's Police Drama Earns Series Order at USA Network.**  
2:10PM, 4/9/14 by Megan Carter, The Hollywood Reporter

From the "The National Guard" and "U.S. Air Marshals" executive producer comes a cop-buddy drama to premiere in the fall.

Hollywood - The USA Network ordered 13-episodes of "Matthews and Martin" from longtime television producer Arthur Winston. This will be his third series with the network.

"Matthews and Martin" is about deep undercover officers working for the LAPD. Josh Duhamel returns to television as Vanderbilt "Vandy" Matthews, the scion of a wealthy East Coast family who found his own path in law enforcement. A bearded Penn Badgley plays Evan "Marty" Martin, who survived a troubled childhood to become one of Los Angeles's finest. Season one will feature a 13-episode single storyline where the pair work undercover as brothers and drug dealers. Mitch Pileggi will play Lt. Ken Norman, the leader of LAPD's Undercover Division.

The drama will be shot in Los Angeles. Real life hero cop Det. Matt Bernhart will consult on the series. Winston said he was taken by Bernhart's heroism during the Boothe-Deavers investigation and impressed with LAPD's Undercover Unit.

# # #

Publisher's Weekly

 **Amazon and Barnes & Noble refuse to distribute "Hyde: A True Story," Tina Deavers-Boothe's self-published autobiography.**  
Staff, June 10, 2015

E-book super-retailers Amazon and Barnes & Noble confirmed that they will not distribute convicted mass murderer Tina Deavers-Boothe's self-published autobiography. The companies in separate statements sited concerns with the content of the book as well as objections from Robert Louis Stevenson's estate as contributing factors.

Well-reviewed in its self-published form, "Hyde: A True Story" presents Deaver-Boothe's 20-year descent from scholarship winner and identity thief to CEO and convicted kidnapper and killer.

Deavers-Boothe hand wrote her autobiography and mailed pages weekly to her former assistant Michael Sweeney. Sweeney, working with upstart E-Book publisher Johannes, has tirelessly promoted the book while looking without luck for a major publishing house to distribute the book as a trade paperback.

# # #

Read The Beat Magazine

Promotions/Commendations:

Detective Matthew C. Bernhart was promoted from Detective I to Detective II retroactive to his return to modified duty on June 1, 2014. Det. Bernhart will move from LAPD's Undercover Unit to the Department's Film Unit, overseeing the issuance of film permits and working with productions to provide insight to the Department's procedures. Det. Bernhart was awarded the Medal of Valor, the Department's highest honor, for his extraordinary bravery and heroism during the Boothe-Deavers investigation.

Detective Martin A. Deeks was awarded the Police Medal of Heroism for his work during the Boothe-Deavers investigation.

# # #

NCIS SWFO News

Personnel Moves:

NCIS's San Diego Office is proud to announce the addition of Stephen M. Johnson as a Special Field Agent. Johnson, a ten-year veteran of the LAPD, came highly recommended to the Agency from NCIS's Office of Special Projects. His insight during the murder investigation Lt. Commander Corbert Anderson Moran III was invaluable, according to Assistant Director Owen Granger.

Johnson will work with agents investigating gang-related crimes. During this time with the LAPD, Johnson was a highly respected member of the Gang Unit. He comes to the San Diego Office after spending nearly five years in the private sector.

Johnson is married with two children. His brother, Capt. Marcus Johnson, is stationed at Camp Pendleton.

# # #

CaliforniaFishing .Net  
May 27, 2014

2014's Trout Derby at Big Bear Lake Results

Big Bear Lake's annual Trout Derby was a tremendous success on Memorial Day Weekend. For the third consecutive year, anglers did not catch the specially tagged $50,000 trout. Organizers were grateful to the participants this year. The record breaking contributions from participants and spectators will guarantee a successful restocking of the lake.

2014's winners:

Big Fish:

Adult Male - Ruben Ramos of Simi Valley, 6.01 lbs, won $1,000.

Adult Female - Patti Tucker of Loma Linda, 4.10 lbs, won $1,000.

Junior Male - Mike Hill of Glendale, 2.41 lbs, won $200, 13 years old.

Junior Female - Emily Lee of Riverside, 2.16 lbs, won $200, 12 years old.

-30-

Thank you all for reading, reviewing and clicking favorite - it is an honor. You are all so generous. It is a joy to read your thoughts. Really, I cannot thank you enough.

Plan to be back soon - having way too much fun with the program not to play with the characters again.

Thank you again,  
Tess  
September 8, 2013


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